| Summary: | Prevention strategies should be constantly improved to manage falls and frailty in the
elderly. Therefore, we aimed at creating a screening and predictive protocol as a replicable model in
clinical settings. Bioimpedance analysis was conducted on fifty subjects (mean age 76.9 3.69 years)
to obtain body composition; then, posture was analysed with a stabilometric platform. Gait performance
was recorded by a 10 m walking test, six-minute walking test, and timed up and go test. After
12 months, subjects were interviewed to check for fall events. Non-parametric analysis was used for
comparisons between fallers and non-fallers and between able and frail subjects. ROC curves were
obtained to identify the predictive value of falling risk and frailty. Path length (area under the curve,
AUC = 0.678), sway area (AUC = 0.727), and sway speed (AUC = 0.778) resulted predictive factors of
fall events (p < 0.05). The six-minute walking test predicted frailty condition (AUC = 0.840). Timed up
and go test was predictive of both frailty (AUC = 0.702) and fall events (AUC = 0.681). Stabilometry
and gait tests should be, therefore, included in a screening protocol for the elderly to prevent fall
events and recognize the condition of frailty at an early stage.
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