Posters

Background: Falls are a major cause of morbidity in adults aged over 65 years and are associated with increased peri-operative risk. Pre-operative assessment for elective general surgery offers an opportunity to identify patients at risk of falls and implement preventative interventions. Digital health tools may provide an efficient and scalable method for screening large patient populations. Aim: To evaluate the use of a digital questionnaire to identify a history of falls in patients aged over 65 years awaiting elective general surgery and to assess subsequent clinical interventions. Methods

Introduction Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is highly prevalent among older adults and is associated with pain, impaired mobility, and an increased risk of falls. Exercise-based interventions are commonly recommended for symptom management; however, their effectiveness for fall prevention in older adults with KOA remains unclear. Method A systematic search of MEDLINE, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL, and grey literature was conducted from inception to 30 October 2025. Randomised controlled trials including adults aged ≥60 years with clinically or radiographically diagnosed KOA

Introduction Physical activity, including prolonged walking, is encouraged for all ages. Nonetheless, both inactive and highly active older adults show an increased risk of falling, particularly when engaged in bouted activities of ten minutes or more. This suggests that prolonged walking might increase fall risk in older adults. A potential contributing factor is a decline in gait quality, possibly due to exercise-induced fatigue. We investigated whether gait quality changes during daily-life prolonged walking in community-dwelling older adults. As we expect physically active older adults to

Introduction Walking is one of the most reported activities preceding a fall in older adults. Exercise-induced muscle fatigue leads to changes in gait, potentially increasing older adults’ fall risk during walking. Furthermore, exercise-induced gait alterations are not well perceived by older adults, which possibly adds to a misjudgement of their abilities. Whether exercise-induced fatigue leads to changes in (risk-taking) movement behaviour during walking is currently unknown. We aimed to evaluate the effect of exercise-induced fatigue on preferred landing strategy when stepping down a curb

Introduction: Falls are a major source of injury and loss of independence in older adults, particularly in those with subtle or central gait control impairments. Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (iNPH), a treatable cause of gait disturbance in later life, presents with balance and mobility deficits that often precede overt falls. Yet current diagnostic assessments rely on simple testing that may underestimate risk. This study used three-dimensional (3-D) motion analysis to identify gait features in iNPH that may signal heightened falls vulnerability. Method: Twenty-three individuals

Introduction Sleep disruption is highly prevalent among hospitalised older adults living with frailty and is associated with delirium, reduced engagement with rehabilitation, increased falls risk and prolonged inpatient stay. Environmental noise, lighting and night-time care practices are key modifiable drivers of poor sleep but are often overlooked in acute hospital settings. This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to introduce a ward-level, multidisciplinary sleep-promotion programme and evaluate its impact on sleep quality and patient-centred outcomes on a specialist frailty ward

Introduction: Falls screening and prevention is underutilized at senior health clinics in the US primarily due to time, staffing constraints, and poor reimbursement. New Mexico’s healthcare system screens adults for falls but rarely offers follow-up for a positive fall screening. This study evaluated the feasibility of a multidisciplinary falls prevention clinic within an older adult primary care clinic.    Methods: Patients ≥70 years with a fall in the previous year were recruited for a fall prevention visit with a multidisciplinary team (physical therapist, pharmacist, and physician) and

Introduction Care home residents, who are often frail, are three times more likely to fall than those living in their own homes. An intervention programme (Action Falls) consisting of a checklist and training, using a co-design approach, was developed to help prevent falls in care homes. A series of studies explored the effectiveness (Falls in Care Homes Study), the implementation (Finch Implementation Study), and sustainability of training the trainers (Action Falls Lead Training Evaluation). Throughout the life course of this series of studies a Stakeholder group met every three months

Introduction: Falls and fear of falling (FOF) are leading contributors to disability and reduced quality of life among older adults, especially those with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and diabetes mellitus (DM), conditions that impair balance, mobility, and confidence. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 538 community-dwelling Malaysians aged ≥60 years with KOA, DM, or both. KOA was identified by physician diagnosis or the American College of Rheumatology criteria, and DM by fasting plasma glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L or self-report. Participants were categorized into KOA−DM−, KOA−DM+, KOA

Introduction Each year, around 30% of those aged 65 and over fall; around 20-30% of these falls result in moderate to severe injuries including bruising, fractures and head injuries. Experiencing concern about falling is strongly associated with increased risk of future falls, with around half of those aged over sixty feeling some level of concern. Evaluation of concerns about falling as part of a falls assessment is recommended by both the World Falls Guidelines and NICE. Method Initial audit was conducted against the 2025 NICE Falls Guideline. We then utilised plan–do–study–act quality

Up to 50% of people aged 60 and over have concerns about falling; concern about falling is a clear predictor of future falls in older adults. Addressing patients’ concerns about falling is a crucial component of falls assessment and management. The World Falls Guidelines 2022 recommend evaluation of concerns, management with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and consideration of specialist referral. The NICE Falls Guideline 2025 recommends exploration of concerns plus CBT interventions for patients who are not helped by strength and balance exercises. Previously, patients with Concerns about

Abstract Content : An overview of the Dementia UK Consultant Admiral Nurse service supporting families affected by frailty and dementia Introduction: Emerging and increasing frailty often goes unidentified, and families living with dementia and frailty are missing vital opportunities to receive the right support at the right time. People living with frailty are less able to adapt to stress factors such as acute illness, injury, or changes in their environment, personal or social circumstances, leading to adverse health outcomes and an earlier loss of independence. Method: We have developed a

Background and Aim: Concerns (or “fears”) about falling are common in older adults and people with clinical balance disorders. Experimental and epidemiological evidence indicates that these concerns can disrupt balance and increase fall risk. Although various evidence-based guidelines exist to address concerns about falling (e.g., World Falls Guidelines), anecdotal evidence suggests limited uptake in clinical practice. This programme of research aimed to (i) identify gaps and barriers in the clinical management of concerns about falling, and (ii) identify practical, evidence-based intervention

Introduction: Exergames combine physical exercise with interactive digital gameplay and are increasingly incorporated into fall-prevention programmes for older adults. By integrating gamified features such as real-time feedback, goal setting, and progress tracking, exergames may enhance motivation, engagement, and adherence to exercise. Despite growing interest, the effectiveness of exergaming interventions in reducing falls and fall-related injuries, as well as key implementation outcomes including adherence, acceptability, and cost-effectiveness, has not been comprehensively synthesised

Introduction: Traditional fall risk assessments are predominantly conducted in controlled clinical settings, often failing to capture the complex interaction between an individual’s gait and real-world environmental stressors. Current predictive models largely ignore extrinsic factors, such as surface irregularities or visual distractions. The ongoing BE-FIT project aims to bridge this gap by validating a novel, ecological fall risk prediction score that integrates intrinsic biomechanical markers with extrinsic built environment features. Methods: This ongoing study analyzes data from a

Introduction: Fear of falling is common among older adults and is linked to adverse outcomes, including activity restriction, reduced autonomy, and poorer quality of life. Its management is challenging due to the high burden of multimorbidity, which can heighten perceptions of vulnerability and increase fear of falling, affecting social participation. The objective was to investigate relationships between fear of falling, multimorbidity, and social participation among older adults in Primary Health Care. Methods: Study was conducted with 175 older adults evaluated in primary care services in a

Introduction: Falls are a major concern in later life, yet how fall patterns evolve over time, and whether these patterns differ between women and men, remains poorly understood. This study investigated sex-specific fall trajectories over three years among generally healthy European older adults and identified baseline self-reported factors associated with higher-risk trajectories. Method: We conducted a secondary analysis of DO-HEALTH, a multicenter randomized controlled trial enrolling community-dwelling adults aged ≥70 years across seven European sites. Participants reported falls every

Mobilisation alarms are commonly used in hospital settings as a means to reduce falls, making up 11% of resources consumed to prevent hospital falls. However, recent trials have concluded that use of mobilisation alarms may be a form of low-value care. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised and non-randomised trials. Search strategy: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and Scopus with additional reference list and Google Scholar searching. Screening and data extraction undertaken by two independent reviewers. Risk of bias assessment: ROB-II for RCTs and ROBINS-I for non-RCTs

Objective The incidence of “mild” traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in patients is increasing due to a growing number of older persons. Protective responses during falls are less effective in older adults than in younger individuals, resulting in a higher risk of unprotected head impacts. Methods This prospective cohort study offered patients with mTBI (Glasgow Coma Scale score 13–15) an in-depth interview and a comprehensive assessment to identify modifiable risk factors and understand causal pathways. Potentially problematic medications, environmental risk factors, and deficits in vision

Background: Perturbation-based balance training (PBT) is an emerging, task-specific approach to falls prevention in older adults and has shown promising results on preventing falls and improving (reactive) balance. However, its feasibility is insufficiently studied, as previous research often excluded clinical groups. This study aims to quantitatively assess whether PBT can be implemented in a heterogeneous population. Methods: Participants from the ongoing iSeFallED study, which recruits older adults in the emergency department following a fall, were offered four PBT sessions on a