Conclusion The Timed Up and Go test has limited ability to predict  falls in community dwelling elderly and should not be used in isolation to identify individuals at high risk of falls in this setting
Background The Timed Up and Go test ( TUG ) is a commonly used screening tool to assist clinicians to identify patients at risk of falling .
The purpose of this systematic review and meta- analysis is to determine the overall predictive value of the TUG in community-dwelling older adults .
'Faster counting while walking' as a predictor of falls in older adults.
OBJECTIVE To establish whether changes in a spoken verbal task performance while walking compared with being at rest could predict falls among older adults . DESIGN Prospect i ve cohort study of 12 months ' duration . SETTING Twenty-seven senior housing facilities . PARTICIPANTS Sample of 187 subjects aged 75 - 100 ( mean age 84.8 + /- 5.2 ) . During enrollment , participants were asked to count aloud backward from 50 , both at rest and while walking and were divided into two groups according to their counting performance . Information on incident falls during the follow-up year was monthly collected . MEASUREMENTS The number of enumerated figures while sitting on a chair and while walking  , and the first fall that occurred during the follow up year . RESULTS The number of enumerated figures under dual-task as compared to  single task  increased among 31.5 % of the tested subjects ( n = 59 ) and was associated with lower scores in MMSE ( P = 0.034 ) , and higher scores in Geriatric Depression Scale ( P = 0.007 ) and Timed Up & Go ( P = 0.005 ) . During the 12 months follow-up , 54 subjects ( 28.9 % ) fell . After adjusting for these variables , the increase in counting performance was significantly associated with falls ( adjusted OR = 53.3 , P < 0.0001 ) . Kaplan-Meier distributions of falls differed significantly between subjects who either increased or decreased their counting performance ( P < 0.0001 ) . CONCLUSIONS Faster counting while walking was strongly associated with falls , suggesting that better performance in an additional verbal counting task while walking might represent a new way to predict falls among older adults
Conclusion The Timed Up and Go test has limited ability to predict  falls in community dwelling elderly and should not be used in isolation to identify individuals at high risk of falls in this setting
Background The Timed Up and Go test ( TUG ) is a commonly used screening tool to assist clinicians to identify patients at risk of falling .
The purpose of this systematic review and meta- analysis is to determine the overall predictive value of the TUG in community-dwelling older adults .