Reliability and validity of five balance assessments battery in individuals with schizophrenia.

The sample was small, with 26 participants, so the results may not apply to other people with schizophrenia. Recruitment used convenience sampling from institutions in southern Taiwan. Participants were middle-aged and had long-standing illness, and the study did not exclude conditions such as acute metabolic syndrome that could affect safe testing. The faller and non-faller groups differed in education, vocational rehabilitation, and psychiatric symptom severity, which may affect the discriminant validity findings. The force plate comparison used static standing conditions, so the concurrent validity of dynamic tests such as Timed Up-and-Go and tandem walking is uncertain. The study compared people with and without fall history, not people followed over time to see who fell, so cutoff scores do not prove future fall prediction. One participant from each group dropped out because they could not follow the test protocol.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The research was partially supported by a grant from Tsyr-Huey Mental Hospital.

Do not use the cutoff scores as proven fall prediction for your patients. They came from 26 people with fall history, not from following people over time to see who fell.