The sensitivity and specificity of the Falls Efficacy Scale and the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale for hemiplegic stroke patients.
Eun-Young Park, Young-Jung Lee, Yoo-Im Choi
PMID 29950756WHAT IT FOUND
ABC correctly identified 92.0% of non-fallers but only 41.3% of fallers; FES identified 69.8% of fallers but only 63.9% of non-fallers among 99 hemiplegic stroke patients.
Key findings
01The ABC scale had an AUC of 0.691, with sensitivity 41.3% and specificity 92.0% at a cut-off of 63.75.
02The FES had an AUC of 0.678, with sensitivity 69.8% and specificity 63.9% at a cut-off of 66.50.
03In multivariate logistic regression, the ABC score was a significant predictor of falls (OR 1.047, p=0.002).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
99 community-dwelling hemiplegic stroke patients were studied, so the results may not apply to other stroke populations. Participants with Korean MMSE scores below 18 were excluded, so people with more cognitive impairment were not represented. The mean time after stroke was 97.62 months, so the findings are about patients many years after stroke. The study is described as retrospective and cross-sectional, and the paper states the AUC was affected by previous fall experience. The cut-off points were higher than previous studies and may reflect the hemiplegic stroke sample.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the significant ABC predictor as proof of a useful stand-alone test. The ABC had 92.0% specificity but only 41.3% sensitivity, and the FES had 69.8% sensitivity but 63.9% specificity.