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Asking older people about fear of falling did not have a negative effect
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Underwood, Martin, Parsons, Suzanne, Eldridge, Sandra M., Spencer, Anne E. and Feder, Gene S. (2006) Asking older people about fear of falling did not have a negative effect. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 59 (6). pp. 629-634. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.09.014 ISSN 0895-4356.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.09.014
Abstract
Background and Objective
To assess whether completing a questionnaire on risk of falling could affect outcome measures: fear of falling, reported falls, and health service contacts in older people (panel conditioning).
Methods
We used a postal questionnaire to assess the effect on falls risk of implementing falls injury prevention guidelines within a single locality in outer London, UK. We compared responses for the baseline and 6-month follow-up surveys with those for a fresh survey. The latter was sent to a new pool of subjects drawn from the same population, and was sent only once; timing coincided with the follow-up survey.
Results
At baseline, we received 498 responses for 1,000 (50%) surveys sent; of these, 358 (72%) subsequently returned the follow-up survey. For the fresh survey, we received 1,261 out of 2,000 (61%) responses to the fresh survey. The odds ratio for the effect of panel conditioning on fear of falling was 0.92 (95% confidence interval CI = 0.64–1.33), within our predefined limit for equivalence. Odds ratios for the effect on reported falls and health service contacts were 0.87 (95% CI = 0.59–1.29) and 0.75 (95% CI = 0.55–1.02), respectively.
Conclusion
The proportions of subjects who feared falling in the follow-up survey and in the fresh survey were equivalent. Reduced reporting of falls and health service use in the follow-up survey suggest that the potential for panel effects cannot be ignored.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subjects: | R Medicine > R Medicine (General) | ||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Clinical Trials Unit Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Medicine > Warwick Medical School |
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| Journal or Publication Title: | Journal of Clinical Epidemiology | ||||
| Publisher: | Elsevier Inc. | ||||
| ISSN: | 0895-4356 | ||||
| Official Date: | 1 June 2006 | ||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 59 | ||||
| Number: | 6 | ||||
| Page Range: | pp. 629-634 | ||||
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2005.09.014 | ||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||
| Date of first compliant deposit: | 17 July 2018 | ||||
| Date of first compliant Open Access: | 30 August 2018 |
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