Clinical trial NCT03317353: Reducing Rate of Falls in Older People by Means of Vestibular Rehabilitation: Preliminary Study
Official title: Reducing Rate of Falls in Older People With the Improvement of Balance by Means of Vestibular Rehabilitation: Preliminary Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Dizziness Chronic
Fall
Elderly
Keywords: Vestibular Rehabilitation
Falls in elderly
Computerized Dynamic Posturography
Optokinetic stimuli
Lead sponsor: Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Instituto de Salud Carlos III
name: European Regional Development Fund
First posted: 2017-10-23
Enrollment: 139
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 65
Standard ages: OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Experimental study, single-center, open, randomized (balanced blocks of patients) in four branches in parallel, in 139 elderly patients (over 65 years) with high risk of falls; follow-up period: twelve months.
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of vestibular rehabilitation to improve the balance in older people and reduce the number of falls, comparing three arms with different vestibular rehabilitation strategies (dynamic posturography exercises, optokinetic stimuli and exercises at home) and a control group.

Detailed description: Vestibular rehabilitation has been shown to be effective in compensating patients with residual instability as a result of vestibular system disorders or Parkinson's disease. It is also useful for treating lack of balance in the elderly (presbivertigo). However, there is no systematic, controlled and prospective analysis of whether vestibular rehabilitation is effective in reducing the number of falls in the elderly, or whether its effects in this age group are temporary or persist over time.

This study compare vestibular rehabilitation with three different strategies (dynamic posturography exercises, optokinetic stimuli and exercises at home) and a control group, in people over 65 years. Balance tests are performed before vestibular rehabilitation and three weeks, six months and one year after it. Number of falls are quantified one year after vestibular rehabilitation.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

Persons with a high risk of falling shall meet at least one of the following requirements:

* Having fallen at least once in the last 12 months.
* Using more than 15 seconds or needing support in the TUG test (normal limit calculated in previous studies).
* Obtaining a mean CDP SOT balance score of \< 68% (normal limit calculated in previous studies).
* Having fallen at least once in the CDP SOT.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Cognitive decline that prevents the patient from understanding the examinations and vestibular rehabilitation exercises.
* Organic conditions that prevent standing on two feet, necessary for assessment of balance and performance of vestibular rehabilitation exercises.
* Balance disorders caused by conditions other than age (neurologic, vestibular...).
* Reduced cultural level that prevents the patient from understanding the examinations and from granting informed consent.

Primary outcomes:
measure: CDP average
timeFrame: 12 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Falls
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Hospitalisations
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: DHI score
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Short FES-I score
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Timed-up-and-go time
timeFrame: 12 months
measure: Timed-up-and-go steps
timeFrame: 12 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Hospital Clinico Universitario de Santiago
name: Andrés Soto-Varela, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Rossi-Izquierdo M, Santos-Perez S, Del-Rio-Valeiras M, Lirola-Delgado A, Faraldo-Garcia A, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, Gayoso-Diz P, Soto-Varela A. Is there a relationship between objective and subjective assessment of balance in elderly patients with instability? Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2015 Sep;272(9):2201-6. doi: 10.1007/s00405-014-3122-3. Epub 2014 Jun 12.
citation: Soto-Varela A, Faraldo-Garcia A, Rossi-Izquierdo M, Lirola-Delgado A, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, del-Rio-Valeiras M, Gayoso-Diz P, Santos-Perez S. Can we predict the risk of falls in elderly patients with instability? Auris Nasus Larynx. 2015 Feb;42(1):8-14. doi: 10.1016/j.anl.2014.06.005. Epub 2014 Sep 4.
citation: Soto-Varela A, Gayoso-Diz P, Rossi-Izquierdo M, Faraldo-Garcia A, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, del-Rio-Valeiras M, Lirola-Delgado A, Santos-Perez S. Reduction of falls in older people by improving balance with vestibular rehabilitation (ReFOVeRe study): design and methods. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2015 Dec;27(6):841-8. doi: 10.1007/s40520-015-0362-z. Epub 2015 Apr 25.
citation: Rossi-Izquierdo M, Santos-Perez S, Faraldo-Garcia A, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, Gayoso-Diz P, Del-Rio-Valeiras M, Lirola-Delgado A, Soto-Varela A. Impact of obesity in elderly patients with postural instability. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2016 Jun;28(3):423-8. doi: 10.1007/s40520-015-0414-4. Epub 2015 Jul 18.
citation: del-Rio-Valeiras M, Gayoso-Diz P, Santos-Perez S, Rossi-Izquierdo M, Faraldo-Garcia A, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, Lirola-Delgado A, Soto-Varela A. Is there a relationship between short FES-I test scores and objective assessment of balance in the older people with age-induced instability? Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2016 Jan-Feb;62:90-6. doi: 10.1016/j.archger.2015.09.005. Epub 2015 Sep 18.
citation: Soto-Varela A, Rossi-Izquierdo M, Faraldo-Garcia A, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, Gayoso-Diz P, Del-Rio-Valeiras M, Lirola-Delgado A, Santos-Perez S. Balance Disorders in the Elderly: Does Instability Increase Over Time? Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2016 Jul;125(7):550-8. doi: 10.1177/0003489416629979. Epub 2016 Feb 4.
citation: Faraldo-Garcia A, Santos-Perez S, Rossi-Izquierdo M, Lirola-Delgado A, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, Del-Rio-Valeiras M, Soto-Varela A. Posturographic limits of stability can predict the increased risk of falls in elderly patients with instability? Acta Otolaryngol. 2016 Nov;136(11):1125-1129. doi: 10.1080/00016489.2016.1201591. Epub 2016 Jul 4.
citation: Soto-Varela A, Faraldo-Garcia A, Del-Rio-Valeiras M, Rossi-Izquierdo M, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, Gayoso-Diz P, Lirola-Delgado A, Santos-Perez S. Adherence of older people with instability in vestibular rehabilitation programmes: prediction criteria. J Laryngol Otol. 2017 Mar;131(3):232-238. doi: 10.1017/S0022215116009932. Epub 2017 Jan 16.
citation: Rossi-Izquierdo M, Gayoso-Diz P, Santos-Perez S, Del-Rio-Valeiras M, Faraldo-Garcia A, Vaamonde-Sanchez-Andrade I, Lirola-Delgado A, Soto-Varela A. Short-term effectiveness of vestibular rehabilitation in elderly patients with postural instability: a randomized clinical trial. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2017 Jun;274(6):2395-2403. doi: 10.1007/s00405-017-4472-4. Epub 2017 Mar 1.