Falling Risk Evaluation in Elderly Using Miniature Gyroscope: Relation Between Gait and Risk of Falling

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related morbidity and mortality among elderlypersons and are associated with significant adverse psychological andphysical consequences [1].Evaluating fall risk is important because it allows better targeting for preventiveand assistive interventions to at risk subjects. Most falls occur during walkingand several studies have demonstrated an association between changes in gaitand risk of falling in older adults [2]. Despite these findings, fall risk is mainlyassessed by using questionnaires or semi-objective performance measuresbecause no simple objective method is available for routine gait analysis.Overcoming problems of reliability and subjectivity of currently used methodscould lead to substantial improvements in the accuracy of fall risk assessment[3].Relation of posture transition with risk of failing based on an ambulatory systemhas been shown before [4]. In this paper, we describe a new ambulatorymethod in gait analysis. In addition we present results of a validation test of thissystem against a footswitch-based gait analysis system, and describe the performanceof this system in stratifying fall risk in a sample of older persons.