P3‐547: GAIT PARAMETERS AND CHARACTERISTICS ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED RISK OF FALLS IN PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

People with dementia fall twice as often and have more serious fall-related injuries such as hip fractures than healthy older adults. While gait impairment as a generic term is understood as a fall risk factor in this population, a clear elaboration of the specific components of gait that are associated with falls risk is needed for knowledge translation to clinical practice and for the development of fall prevention strategies for people with dementia. Therefore, the primary objective of this systematic review was to identify gait parameters and characteristics associated with falls in both community and institutional-dwelling people with dementia. The secondary objective was to discover current gaps of knowledge regarding gait impairment and falls in this population. Electronic databases CINAHL, EMBASE, MedLine, PsycINFO, and PubMed were searched (from inception to April 2017) to identify prospective cohort studies evaluating the association between gait and falls in people with dementia. This systematic review identified increased double support time variability, high scores on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, outdoor walking, and use of mobility aids as gait-associated predictors of any fall in institutional setting. Lower average walking bouts (in 24 hours) was the only gait-associated predictor of any fall in community-dwelling people with dementia. In addition, increased double support time and step length variability were significant predictors of recurrent falls in institutional-dwelling people with dementia. The reviewed articles do not support using the Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment and the Timed-Up-and-Go tests to predict any fall in this population. There is limited research on the use of dual-task gait assessments for predicting falls in people with dementia. There is also a lack of information about gait impairment and falls in younger people (<65 years) with dementia, and in people with mild cognitive impairment and frontotemporal dementia. This systematic review brings to light the specific spatiotemporal gait parameters and features that are associated with falls in people with dementia. Future research is recommended to develop specialized treatment methods for these particular gait impairments in this specific patient population.