New studies on fall risk, fall prevention guidelines, exercise, and mobility by Loop members!

Posted Le 26 mars 2021

 

Every week I receive from SafetyLit a listing of new citations related to ‘Falls’, and I am always delighted to see Canadian authors, especially Loop Fall Prevention CoP members, publishing research on fall-related issues. I’d like to highlight several recent publications, and issues (and people) to keep a look out for future developments.

 

Wendy Carew recently posted to Loop about the new website for the fall prevention initiative “Stay On Your Feet” (SOYF) in North-Eastern Ontario. See https://www.fallsloop.com/discussions/11433

She and colleagues from University of Waterloo published a study about working with family health teams (FHTs) to integrate nutrition in fall risk screening program into work flow planning, as part of SOYF activities. Check out their learnings at:

Laur C, Carew W, Keller H. Building Nutrition into a Falls Risk Screening Program for Older Adults in Family Health Teams in North Eastern Ontario. Can J Aging. 2021 Mar;40(1):97-113. doi: 10.1017/S0714980819000850. Abstract PMID: 32248865. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32248865/

 

Daphne Kemp worked as a Fall Reduction and Prevention Coordinator for the Saskatoon Area of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, and in March 2020 was scheduled to speak at a Loop and CSPI webinar event on her research project looking at fall risk screening and assessment guidelines. Sadly the webinar was postponed, but her research, along with colleagues from University of Saskatchewan, has been published in an important scoping study to synthesize international fall risk clinical practice guidelines and recommendations. So needed!
Find the scoping study at:

Williams-Roberts H, Arnold C, Kemp D, Crizzle A, Johnson S. Scoping Review of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Fall Risk Screening and Assessment in Older Adults across the Care Continuum. Can J Aging. 2020 Sep 28:1-18. DOI: 10.1017/S0714980820000112. Abstract PMID: 32985402.

 

Two presenters of very popular Loop Webinars in the past year have had their studies and papers published and cited.

 

Alexie Touchette had her webinar delayed by the pandemic, however in January 2021 both the event and her study on fall prevention community exercise programs happened. Both events were very popular.
Check out the January 20, 2021 webinar “Do Fall Prevention Community Exercise Programs for Older Adults in Canada Meet Evidence-based Recommendations?” (with recording, downloadable slide deck, study link and Q & A) at https://www.fallsloop.com/services/webinars/archived-webinars

And the open access study at:

Touchette AJ, Oates AR, Menec VH, Sibley KM. Design characteristics and inclusion of evidence-based exercise recommendation in fall prevention community exercise programs for older adults in Canada: a national descriptive self-report study. BMC Geriatr. 2021 Jan 9;21(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12877-020-01949-2.  Full text: PMC7796610.

 

 

Dr. Susan Hunter’s work on the safe use of mobility aids has been featured in Loop webinars and discussions over the past few years. Two webinars in February and May 2020 garnered considerable attention and follow-up. See them in https://www.fallsloop.com/services/webinars/archived-webinars and check out all the resources linked to them. 
Dr. Hunter also had a couple of publications in 2020 on the same research, including this one in November.

Hunter SW, Divine A, Omana H. et al. Development, reliability and validity of the Safe Use of Mobility Aids Checklist (SUMAC) for 4-wheeled walker use in people living with dementia. BMC Geriatr 2020 Nov 11; 20: 468. Full text https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-020-01865-5

 

And lastly, another group of Canadian researchers led by Jennifer Pillay of U of Alberta have published in open access a protocol for a systematic review that will be valuable for all to follow, as it will lead to recommendations on fall prevention for primary care providers:

Fall prevention interventions for older community-dwelling adults: systematic reviews on benefits, harms, and patient values and preferences.  J Pillay et al. Systematic Reviews (2021) 10:18 Open access https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-020-01572-7

 

And there’s more Canadian fall prevention research and projects being published every week! 
What news and resources do you have to share?