The International Tinnitus Journal

Falls in the Elderly: The Development of a Risk Questionnaire and Posturographic Findings

Author(s): Dario Alpini, Reuven Kohen-Ratz, Riki Braun,3 Aaron Burstin,3 Luigi Tesio,Luigi Pugnetti, Laura Mendozzi, Giuseppe Sambataro,S Antonio Cesarani,and Davide Antonio Giuliano

In elderly people, owing to a perturbation at several levels, including the motor, sensory and cognitive levels, a condition of dizziness and unsteadiness complicated by frequent falls often appears. In this article, we review the most recent information about clinical and instrumental tools available for preventing mobility-related accidents and report the results of a comparative study of postural control, carried out through tetraataxiometry (by Tetrax, Tel Aviv, Israel), in two samples of elderly women belonging to two different populations: 24 Italian women (11 reporting falls and 13 without falls) having a mean age of 73.] years, and 37 Israeli women (12 with falls and 25 without falls) having a mean age of 72.5 years. The posturographic findings show that the falling subjects, to maintain postural control, are highly dependent on somatosensory inputs and have a weaker "systeme postural fin" (fine postural system), according to Gagey. They also show that an elderly subpopulation exists that, for unknown reasons, is immune to destabilization and falls.

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