A systematic review of the guidelines and Delphi study for the multifactorial fall risk assessment of community-dwelling elderly

Abstract

As falls are among the most common causes of injury for the elderly, the prevention and early intervention are necessary. Fall assessment tools that include a variety of factors are recommended for preventing falls, but there is a lack of such tools. This study developed a multifactorial fall risk assessment tool based on current guidelines and validated it from the perspective of professionals. We followed the Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology’s guidelines in this systematic review. We used eight international and five Korean databases to search for appropriate guidelines. Based on the review results, we conducted the Delphi survey in three rounds; one open round and two scoring rounds. About nine experts in five professional areas participated in the Delphi study. We included nine guidelines. After conducting the Delphi study, the final version of the “Multifactorial Fall Risk Assessment tool for CommunityDwelling Older People” (MFA-C) has 36 items in six factors; general characteristics, behavior factors, disease history, medication history, physical function, and environmental factors. The validity of the MFA-C tool was largely supported by various academic fields. It is expected to be beneficial to the elderly in the community when it comes to tailored interventions to prevent falls. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.