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2003, Editrice Kurtis
NOT PRINTABLE
(Aging 15: 142-147, 2003),
©
2003, Editrice Kurtis
142 Aging Clin Exp Res, Vol. 15, No. 2
ABSTRACT. Background and aims: Falls are fre-
quent among older people living in residential care
facilities. The aim of this study was to investigate the
prediction accuracy of the Downton fall risk index
among older people living in residential care facili-
ties at 3, 6 and 12 months, and with two different
definitions of falls.
Methods: Seventy-eight resi-
dents in one residential care facility, 56 women
and 22 men, mean±SD age 81±6 years, participat-
ed in this study. Forty-seven percent of participants
had dementia, 45% depression, and 32% previous
stroke. Forty-one percent of participants used a
walking device indoors, and the median score of
the Barthel ADL Index was 16. At baseline, the
Downton fall risk index was scored for each indi-
vidual. A score of 3 or more was taken to indicate
high risk of falls. Participants were followed up
prospectively for 12 months, with regard to falls in-
doors.
Results: At 3, 6 and 12 months, and using a
fall definition including all indoor falls, sensitivity
ranged from 81 to 95% with the highest value at 3
months, and specificity ranged from 35 to 40%.
The prognostic separation values ranged from 0.26
to 0.37. Within 3 months, the risk of falling was
36% in the high-risk group (index score ≥3) and
5% in the low-risk group. The accuracy of predic-
tions did not improve when applying a fall definition
in which falls precipitated by acute illness, acute dis-
ease, or drug side-effects were excluded.
Conclu-
sions:
Already after 3 months, the Downton fall risk
index appears to be a useful tool for predicting
falls, irrespective of their cause, among older people
in residential care facilities.
(Aging Clin Exp Res 2003; 15: 142-147)
©
2003, Editrice Kurtis
INTRODUCTION
As falls are frequent among older people living in res-
idential care facilities (1, 2), and these people also run a
high risk of sustaining hip fracture (3, 4), it seems a
matter of urgency to find ways of preventing falls.
Identification of high-risk individuals is often seen as an
important part of prevention programs. Risk factors dis-
criminating fall-prone individuals from those less prone to
fall have been studied extensively. Mobility problems,
sensory deficits, cognitive impairment, and the use of psy-
choactive medications are commonly suggested as im-
portant risk factors (5).
One assumption regarding prevention of falls is that the
cumulative effect of multiple risk factors contributes more
to the tendency to fall than the potential effect of each risk
factor alone (6). On the basis of this assumption, a num-
ber of fall risk scoring systems screening for well-estab-
lished risk factors have been presented (7-17). Only two
of these, the Tinetti fall risk index and the Mobility In-
teraction Fall chart, have been developed among elderly
people in residential care facilities (10, 17). The Tinetti fall
risk index seems too complex to be convenient in clinical
practice and, to our knowledge, only part of the index, the
Tinetti balance scale, has been validated externally (18).
There are no reports of validation of the Mobility Inter-
action Fall chart in an independent sample.
The Downton fall risk index includes well-documented
risk factors for falls and therefore offers satisfactory con-
tent validity (7), and also seems to be very easy to ad-
minister. Although the Downton index was developed for
elderly people in continuing care wards, we believe it may
also be useful in residential care facilities. Downton (7) pre-
sented a moderate association between index score and
number of patients with falls during the previous year in
a sample of 28 patients. Sensitivity was very high (100%)
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research
Prediction of falls among older people in residential
care facilities by the Downton index
Erik Rosendahl, Lillemor Lundin-Olsson, Kristina Kallin, Jane Jensen, Yngve Gustafson, and
Lars Nyberg
Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Geriatric Medicine and Physiotherapy, Umeå
University, Umeå, Sweden
Key words: Accidental falls, fall risk index, older people, prediction accuracy, prevention of falls, residential care.
Correspondence: E. Rosendahl, R.P.T., Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Geriatric Medicine, Umeå University, SE-
901 87 Umeå, Sweden.
E-mail: erik.rosendahl@germed.umu.se
Received July 11, 2001; accepted in revised form October 29, 2002.
©
2003, Editrice Kurtis
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but specificity very low (9%). To our knowledge, the
Downton fall risk index has been validated externally
only among stroke patients in geriatric rehabilitation, in
which a moderately high correlation was found between
predicted risk of falls and observed falls (19).
Follow-up periods vary in studies of fall risk scoring sys-
tems, from one day or one week up to six months (10,
12, 14). However, how the length of the follow-up peri-
od affects prediction accuracy is not yet known. Likewise,
it may be of importance to consider which definition of a
fall to use when applying a fall risk index. The Kellogg In-
ternational Group on the Prevention of Falls formulated
a definition of falls which considers the causes of a fall
(20). A fall is defined as “an event which results in a per-
son coming to rest inadvertently on the ground or other
lower level and other than as a consequence of the fol-
lowing: sustaining a violent blow, loss of consciousness,
sudden onset of paralysis, as in stroke, and an epileptic
seizure”. Among frail elderly individuals, acute illness,
acute disease, and drug side-effects cause many falls (17,
21, 22) which may be difficult to predict using a fall risk
index. We therefore assumed that prediction accuracy may
improve when excluding from analyses falls precipitated
by acute illness, acute disease, or drug side-effects.
The purpose of our study was to investigate the pre-
diction accuracy of the Downton fall risk index among old-
er people living in residential care facilities at 3, 6 and 12
months, and with two different definitions of falls.
METHODS
Participants and setting
The study was performed at a residential care facility in
Umeå, Sweden. All residents, aged 65 years and over
(N=78) who were living at the facility in February 1994 or
who moved in during the following one-year period were
given written and oral information about the study. All of
them, or the relatives of residents with severe cognitive
dysfunction, gave their informed consent to participation
in the study. Subject characteristics are presented in
Table 1. The study was approved by the Ethical Com-
mittee of the Faculty of Medicine at Umeå University.
All 78 participants had 24-hour daily access to assis-
tance with activities of daily living, household issues, and
medical care. Fifty-three participants lived in private
rooms but shared dining and living rooms, and 25 par-
ticipants lived in private apartments. No kind of physical
restraint was prescribed.
Baseline assessment procedures
A physician (YG, KK) registered diagnoses and medi-
cations and assessed participants’ cognitive function using
the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) (23). Depres-
sion and dementia were diagnosed using DSM-III-R criteria
(24). A registered nurse, employed at the facility and also
working part-time on this project, scored activities of daily
living (ADL) according to the Barthel ADL Index (25).
Scoring of Downton fall risk index
The Downton fall risk index (Table 2) includes 11 risk
items, which are scored one point each. Scores are summed
to a total index score, range 0-11. A score of 3 or more is
taken to indicate a high risk of falls. No explicit operational
definitions are provided with the Downton fall risk index, and
therefore we specified the definitions used in this study.
A physician (YG, KK) made almost all the assessments
for the index. Histories of falls during the preceding year
were obtained from medical records, the participants
themselves, or family members or caregivers. Medica-
tions were grouped according to the Downton index cat-
egories.
Visual impairment was noted if the participant,
with or without glasses, was not able to read a word in 5-
mm block letters at reading distance.
Hearing impair-
ment
was noted if the participant, without a hearing aid,
was not able to perceive a conversation in a normal voice
Prediction of falls by the Downton index
Aging Clin Exp Res, Vol. 15, No. 2 143
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Table 1 - Characteristics of participants with and without falls during 12 months.
Total sample (N=78) Without falls (N=30) With falls (N=48) p
Age (years), mean±SD 81±6 79±6 83±6 0.010
Female sex, % 72 70 73 0.781
Dementia, % 47 37 54 0.132
Depression, % 45 17 63 <0.001
Previous stroke, % 32 27 35 0.420
Use of walking device indoors, % 41 36 45 0.446
Living in private rooms, % 68 53 77 0.029
MMSE*, median score 21 24 20 0.045
(interquartile range) (12-26) (15-28) (10-25)
Barthel ADL index
#
, median score 16 16 15 0.229
(interquartile range) (11-18) (14-19) (10-18)
*Mini-Mental State Examination (23);
#
Barthel Index of ADL (25).
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at a distance of 1 meter. Limb impairment was assessed
by a physiotherapist (LLO, LN) and defined as the presence
of amputated limb, signs of extremity paresis, muscle
weakness or sensory impairment. Regarding mental state,
we preferred the term
cognitively impaired to confused.
We used the well-established MMSE cut-off score of
≤23/30 points as a diagnostic criterion indicating
cogni-
tively impaired
, instead of the suggested cut-off score of
<7/10 points of the Abbreviated Mental Test score (26).
Participants’ ability to walk safely was rated by a phys-
iotherapist (LLO, LN) according to the following cate-
gories: normal (safe without walking aids), safe with walk-
ing aids, unsafe, unable. Safe gait was scored when the par-
ticipant was able to move easily and safely when, for ex-
ample, opening and closing doors, meeting people in the
hallway, and approaching a chair to sit down. Unsafe
gait indicated that the participant moved in an uncon-
trolled way, staggered or stumbled. For each participant, the
score was made by a physiotherapist (LLO, LN). Other co-
workers in the study and staff were blinded for total scores.
Follow-up for falls
Participants were followed up prospectively regarding
indoor falls at the residential facility for a total period of 12
subsequent months from inclusion in the study, or until
they moved or died. The number of observation days was
calculated for each individual at 3, 6 and 12 months after
inclusion in the study. Participants’ absence from the
facility (if lasting more than two days), in all 319 days
among 20 participants, was subtracted from each par-
ticipant’s observation time. The total number of obser-
vation days at the 12-month follow-up was 24536. The
follow-up period for each resident ranged from 12 to 365
days (interquartile range 333-365), and 56% of the par-
ticipants had a full one-year follow-up period.
Fall definitions and registration
Two different definitions of falls were used: 1) an indoor
event in which the resident unintentionally came to rest on
the floor regardless of whether or not an injury was sus-
tained; and 2) when falls were precipitated by acute illness,
acute disease, or drug side-effects, they were excluded.
The staff received brief information about fall registration
and the importance of reporting all falls that came to their
knowledge. They registered falls on a form and reported
each incident to the study nurse, who immediately fol-
lowed up each fall. The study nurse also supervised and en-
couraged staff to report falls as accurately as possible.
One of the authors (YG) was the geriatrician responsible for
the residential care facility and, together with the study
nurse, as soon as possible or at least within a few days, he
followed up each fall with regard to any injury and evaluated
possible precipitating causes of the fall. Acute illness was re-
garded as a precipitating factor when the resident, before
the fall, showed symptoms of illness such as impaired bal-
ance or delirium, and when the symptoms disappeared
when the illness was treated. Acute disease was regarded as
a precipitating factor when a stroke or cardiac infarction was
discovered in connection with the fall. A drug was judged to
have precipitated the fall when there were reports of side-
effects from a recently prescribed drug and the symptoms
disappeared after discontinuation of treatment.
Statistical analysis
Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predic-
tive values, using both fall definitions, were calculated at 3,
6, and 12 months after inclusion in the study (all participants
included at each time-point). At the same time-points, the
Prognostic Separation index (PSEP), as suggested by Altman
and Royston (27), was calculated. In short, PSEP is the dif-
ference between the probabilities of an event occurring in the
group with the worst predicted prognosis, and in the group
with the best. The optimal value is 1.0. For all proportions,
95% CI were calculated, using binomial distribution.
Further, the time to first fall (event-free time) was cal-
culated as the number of observation days until the first fall
(if any). The association between the time to first fall (de-
pendent variable) and the total Downton fall risk index
E. Rosendahl, L. Lundin-Olsson, K. Kallin, et al.
144 Aging Clin Exp Res, Vol. 15, No. 2
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Table 2 - The Downton fall risk index*.
Items Score#
Known previous falls
No 0
Yes 1
Medications
None 0
Tranquillizers/sedatives 1
Diuretics 1
Antihypertensives (other than diuretics) 1
Antiparkinsonian drugs 1
Antidepressants 1
Other medications 0
Sensory deficits
None 0
Visual impairment 1
Hearing impairment 1
Limb impairment 1
Mental state
Orientated 0
Confused (cognitively impaired) 1
Gait
Normal (safe without walking aids) 0
Safe with walking aids 0
Unsafe (with/without walking aids) 1
Unable 0
*Item scores are added together to an index total, range 0-11, where 3 or
more is taken to indicate a high risk of falls.
#Downton, 1993 (7).
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score (independent variable) was analyzed using the Cox re-
gression, with calculation of the hazard ratio (HR). The same
analyses were also performed applying the allocation to high
or low fall risk groups, and separate item scores respectively
as independent variables. Kaplan-Meier analysis with the
Log Rank test for statistical significance was also used.
Statistical analyses were computed using the SPSS
software package (28). A
p-value <0.05 was considered
statistically significant.
RESULTS
A total of 148 indoor falls occurred during the 12-
month period, corresponding to an event rate of 2.2
(95% CI 1.9-2.6) falls per person per year. Of the resi-
dents, 48 out of 78 (62%) suffered at least one fall, and
30 (38%) fell twice or more. The number of falls per per-
son ranged from 0 to 22.
Thirty-two falls were regarded as being precipitated by
acute illness, 8 by acute disease, 12 by drug side-effects,
and two falls were regarded as precipitated by both acute
illness and drug side-effects. When all these falls were ex-
cluded to fit the second definition of falls, a total of 94 falls
remained among 35 residents.
The median score on the Downton index was 4 (in-
terquartile range 2-5, range 0-9). Fifty-seven (73%) par-
ticipants scored 3 or more on the index, thus reaching the
suggested cut-off score for high risk of falls.
As Table 3 shows, with all falls included, sensitivity
ranged from 81 to 95%, with the highest value at 3
months, while specificity ranged from 35 to 40%. PSEP
ranged from 0.26 to 0.37 at the three different time-
points. The highest positive predictive value was 68% (12
months) and the highest negative predictive value was
95% (3 months). When excluding falls precipitated by
acute illness, acute disease, or drug side-effects, sensitiv-
ity was 100% at 3 months, decreasing to 77% at 12
months. PSEP ranged from 0.09 to 0.27, the value at 12
months being statistically insignificant.
The time to first fall differed significantly between low-
and high-risk groups (Fig. 1). The risk of falling within 3
months was 36% in the high-risk group and 5% in the low-
risk group. Within 12 months, the risk was 76 and 47%,
respectively. The Hazard Ratio (HR) was 2.5 (95% CI 1.2-
5.2,
p=0.012) with all falls included and 2.3 (95% CI 1.1-
4.8,
p=0.022) when excluding falls precipitated by acute
illness, acute disease, or drug side-effects.
In an analysis of the total index score, the sum of the risk
items was also significantly associated with the time to
first fall; HR for the total score with all falls included was 1.5
(95% CI 1.2-1.7,
p<0.001) and, when using the second
definition of falls, it was 1.4 (95% CI 1.1-1.6,
p=0.002).
As Table 1 shows, age, depression, living in private
rooms (compared with private apartments) and MMSE
scores were significantly associated with falling. How-
ever, the associations between time to first fall and high-
or low-risk group allocation remained significant when ad-
justing for age, sex, and living accommodation (data not
Prediction of falls by the Downton index
Aging Clin Exp Res, Vol. 15, No. 2 145
(Aging 15: 142-147, 2003),
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Table 3 - Accuracy of the Downton fall risk index, with two different fall definitions, during 3, 6 and 12 months.
All falls included Falls not precipitated by acute illness,
acute disease, or drug side-effects
3 months 6 months 12 months 3 months 6 months 12 months
Sensitivity, % (95% CI) 95 (76-100) 91 (75-98) 81 (67-91) 100 (77-100) 91 (72-99) 77 (60-90)
Specificity, % (95% CI) 35 (23-49) 39 (25-55) 40 (23-59) 33 (22-46) 35 (22-49) 30 (17-46)
Positive predictive 35 (23-49) 51 (37-64) 68 (55-80) 25 (14-38) 37 (24-51) 47 (34-61)
value, % (95% CI)
Negative predictive 95 (76-100) 86 (64-97) 57 (34-78) 100 (84-100) 90 (70-99) 62 (38-82)
value, % (95% CI)
PSEP value (95% CI) 0.30 (0.08-0.52) 0.37 (0.12-0.61) 0.26 (0.01-0.50) 0.25 (0.05-0.44) 0.27 (0.04-0.50) 0.09 (–0.16-0.34)
PSEP: Prognostic Separation index (range 0-1.0).
Proportion with no falls
Months
036912
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
p=0.009 p=0.004 p=0.010
Low risk
High risk
Figure 1 - Kaplan-Meier curves of time to first fall among partic-
ipants in high-risk (N=57) and low-risk (N=21) groups. p-values re-
fer to Log Rank tests at 3, 6 and 12 months, respectively.
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shown). Since depression and MMSE scores were parts of,
or closely related to parts of the index, no adjustments
were made for these variables.
Table 4 describes the associations of separate risk
items with the time to first fall. As may be seen, use of an-
tidepressants, visual impairment, cognitively impaired,
and unsafe gait were separately associated with the fall
risk. The items: previous falls, use of tranquillizers/seda-
tives and hearing impairment were close to statistical
significance when analyzed as separate factors, while
the other medication items and limb impairment were far
from significantly associated. Still, when added together
in groups, both medication and sensory deficit items
were significantly associated with the time to first fall.
DISCUSSION
The Downton fall risk index seems to be a useful tool
in predicting the risk of falls among older people in resi-
dential care. At 3 months, more than one out of 3 in the
high-risk group had suffered a fall, compared with only
one in 20 in the low-risk group.
This study indicates a predictive accuracy at least on the
same level as other external validations of fall risk index-
es. Validation of the Downton index among stroke pa-
tients in geriatric rehabilitation, follow-up time range 3-
289 days, showed a sensitivity of 91% and a specificity of
27% (19). In an external validation of the Tinetti balance
scale, part of the Tinetti fall risk index, with a 12-month
follow-up among community-dwelling people, the most ac-
curate cut-off score resulted in a sensitivity of 70% and a
specificity of 52% (18).
In the present study, the Downton fall risk index
showed the highest sensitivity at 3 months. The highest
PSEP value was found at 6 months, but a statistically sig-
nificant prognostic separation, almost as wide, was already
seen at 3 months. It is probable that changes in health sta-
tus which occur during one year have an effect on the fall
risk and also on the index score among frail older people
in residential care, and it may be recommended to screen
for fall risk every third month.
To our surprise, the Downton fall risk index did not
show better prediction accuracy when falls judged as
precipitated by acute illness, acute disease, and side-effects
from a recently prescribed drug were excluded. It may be
that the Downton index marks frailty and thus suscepti-
bility to these precipitating factors for falls. The results of
our study indicate that the Downton index predicts falls ir-
respective of their cause.
Three of the medication items and one of the sensory
deficit items showed a weak association with the fall
risk, and it may be disputed whether they make any sig-
nificant contribution to fall prediction. In the literature, two
meta-analyses call in question whether there is a strong as-
sociation between analgesic, cardiac and psychotropic
drugs, and falls (29, 30). Five of eleven risk items of the
Downton index reflect medication as a predisposing fac-
tor, which may be seen as an overestimation of medica-
tion as an important fall risk factor. Instead, when medi-
cation items were added together to form a sub-score of
the index, they were significantly associated with the fall
risk. This may reflect the fact that the combination of dif-
ferent drugs contributes more to the fall risk than what is
mediated by each type of drug by itself (30).
In our view, sensitivity is a highly significant quality of
a fall prediction instrument, especially if the prediction
forms the basis for recruiting individuals in preventive pro-
grams. The high sensitivity of the Downton index shown
in our study confirms that relatively few individuals are
falsely predicted as being at low risk of falling. The low
specificity of the index is more acceptable than low sen-
E. Rosendahl, L. Lundin-Olsson, K. Kallin, et al.
146 Aging Clin Exp Res, Vol. 15, No. 2
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Table 4 - Association between separate Downton fall risk index items and time to first fall during 12 months.
Participants Participants
without falls with falls
Risk items % (N=30) % (N=48) HR 95% CI p
Known previous falls 33 56 1.67 0.94-2.95 0.080
Tranquillizers/sedatives 43 58 1.66 0.93-2.96 0.085
Diuretics 43 42 1.15 0.65-2.05 0.627
Antihypertensives (other than diuretics) 10 12 1.22 0.52-2.88 0.647
Antiparkinsonian drugs 3 8 1.45 0.52-4.05 0.481
Antidepressants 10 33 1.93 1.05-3.52 0.033
All medication items (0-5) ––1.36 1.04-1.78 0.027
Visual impairment 7 31 3.14 1.69-5.84 <0.001
Hearing impairment 30 38 1.61 0.90-2.89 0.110
Limb impairment 33 38 1.04 0.58-1.87 0.891
All sensory deficit items (0-3) ––1.54 1.11-2.13 0.009
Cognitively impaired 47 71 2.27 1.21-4.25 0.011
Unsafe gait 30 50 1.34 1.11-1.63 0.003
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sitivity would be, as long as the fall intervention does not
lead to any harm to the individual, for example through
the use of physical restraints.
The Downton index is easy to administer and includes
many items that can be obtained from medical records.
We believe it can be used routinely in residential care fa-
cilities, especially when some items are already made
as routine assessments.
The fact that a nurse working at the facility was also
employed part-time on this project should contribute to
the accuracy of fall reporting, although it was impossible
to obtain information about every single fall in this frail and
cognitively impaired population. However, a larger sam-
ple from more than one single facility would have in-
creased the generalizability of this study. An interrater re-
liability study would also be of great value.
CONCLUSIONS
Already after 3 months, the Downton fall risk index ap-
pears to be a useful tool for predicting falls among older
people in residential care facilities. In comparison with a
fall definition with all indoor falls included, a definition in
which falls precipitated by acute illness, acute disease, or
drug side-effects were excluded did not improve the ac-
curacy of fall prediction.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to K. Strandfur-Byström for her major con-
tribution to data collection. This work was supported by grants from the
County Council of Västerbotten, the Federation of County Councils in
Sweden, the Umeå University Foundation for Medical Research, Gun
and Bertil Stohnes Foundation, and the Swedish Foundation for
Health Care Sciences and Allergy Research.
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