ArticleBMC geriatrics2025
Functional continuum stratifies fall risk in older adults.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesGait speed is a validated indicator of fall risk (Grade 1 A). However, accurate prevention requires comprehensive stratification indicators. The Functional Continuum (FC), which encompasses the full range of functional changes, shows promise for stratifying fall risk.
methodsThe study included 4,949 and 5,259 individuals from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) wave 1 as the discovery sample, and 2,649 and 2,749 newly recruited individuals from wave 5 as the independent validation sample for the gait speed and FC analyses, respectively.
resultsAt baseline, 19.2% of participants exhibited low gait speed; over follow-up, 66.2% sustained an incident fall. In the FC cohort, baseline distributions for levels 0–3 were 35.0%, 24.9%, 21.0%, and 19.1%, respectively, with 67.7% sustaining an incident fall. Both gait speed and FC function effectively stratified fall risk, with FC showing a significant dose-effect on fall risk. After adjusting for confounders, older adults with low gait speed had an increased fall risk (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.50, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.31, 1.71). The worse the FC, the higher the fall risk (Level 1: HR: 1.20, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.36; Level 2: HR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.43, 1.87; Level 3: HR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.54, 2.09).
conclusionsFC stratified fall risk into low-, medium-, and high-risk levels, offering a comprehensive, tiered framework for guiding prevention—from general exercise and monitoring in low-risk individuals to intensive measures in higher-risk groups. These findings highlight the potential utility of FC for optimizing resource allocation in fall prevention strategies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.