RT Journal Article
T1 Instruments for assessing the risk of falls in acute hospitalized patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis
A1 Aranda-Gallardo, Marta
A1 Morales-Asencio, José Miguel
A1 Canca-Sánchez, José Carlos
A1 Barrero-Sojo, Silvia
A1 Pérez-Jiménez, Claudia
A1 Morales-Fernández, Ángeles
A1 Enríquez-de-Luna, Margarita
A1 Moya-Suárez, Ana Belén
A1 Mora-Banderas, Ana María
K1 Asistencia sanitaria
K1 Accidentes
AB BackgroundFalls are a serious problem for hospitalized patients, reducing the duration and quality of life. It is estimated that over 84% of all adverse events in hospitalized patients are related to falls. Some fall risk assessment tools have been developed and tested in environments other than those for which they were developed with serious validity discrepancies. The aim of this review is to determine the accuracy of instruments for detecting fall risk and predicting falls in acute hospitalized patients.MethodsSystematic review and meta-analysis. Main databases, related websites and grey literature were searched. Two blinded reviewers evaluated title and abstracts of the selected articles and, if they met inclusion criteria, methodological quality was assessed in a new blinded process. Meta-analyses of diagnostic ORs (DOR) and likelihood (LH) coefficients were performed with the random effects method. Forest plots were calculated for sensitivity and specificity, DOR and LH. Additionally, summary ROC (SROC) curves were calculated for every analysis.ResultsFourteen studies were selected for the review. The meta-analysis was performed with the Morse (MFS), STRATIFY and Hendrich II Fall Risk Model scales. The STRATIFY tool provided greater diagnostic validity, with a DOR value of 7.64 (4.86 - 12.00). A meta-regression was performed to assess the effect of average patient age over 65 years and the performance or otherwise of risk reassessments during the patient’s stay. The reassessment showed a significant reduction in the DOR on the MFS (rDOR 0.75, 95% CI: 0.64 - 0.89, p = 0.017).ConclusionsThe STRATIFY scale was found to be the best tool for assessing the risk of falls by hospitalized acutely-ill adults. However, the behaviour of these instruments varies considerably depending on the population and the environment, and so their operation should be tested prior to implementation. Further studies are needed to investigate the effect of the reassessment of these instruments with respect to hospitalized adult patients, and to consider the real compliance by healthcare personnel with procedures related to patient safety, and in particular concerning the prevention of falls.
PB BMC
SN 1472-6963
YR 2013
FD 2013
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10630/6172
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10630/6172
LA eng
NO Aranda Gallardo M, Morales Asencio JM, Canca Sánchez JC, Mora Banderas AM, Moya Suárez AB, Barrero Sojo S, Pérez Jiménez C, Morales Fernández A, Enríquez de Luna Rodríguez M, Saldaña del Campo S. Instruments for assessing the risk of falls in hospitalised patients: a systematic review. BMC Health Serv Research. 2013; 13: 122
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 21 ene 2026