The assessment of functional fitness and risk of falls in people aged 70 and older

Abstract

Introduction. One of the key elements of successful aging is to maintain autonomy and independence in daily activities and performance.

Aim. The aim of this dissertation is to evaluate the functional capacity of elders. Due to the growing proportion of elderly people in the society, the next objective of the research was to assess the risk of falls in people over 70 years of age.

Material and methods. The study included 72 people with an average age of 78.74 years +/- 6.50 years, including 44 women and 28 men. The inclusion criteria for the study group was completing 70 years of age and the result above 23 points obtained in the MMSE test (The Mini Mental State Examination). To evaluate balance, a few tests such as Berg Balance Scale, “get up and go” test, Tinetti Test, and Senior Fitness Test were used. In addition, I used Barthel scale to assess functional capacity. The assessment of the balance was based on the Tinetti test and Berg scale. These tests also assess the seniors’ exposure on downs.

Results. The results reflect the occurrence of deficits during gait and in the process to maintain balance. For 72 subjects in the test Tinetti only 17 participants showed minor threat of falling, and in 24, risk was five times higher than in others. Test ‘get up and go’, showed that the increased risk of falls in the study group concerns 28 people, while a high risk of 20 respondents.

Conclusions. The dependence between the risk of falls and reduced functional efficiency points to the need of implementing exercises in geriatric care that could improve the efficiency and the body balance.