Effective Combined Assessments of Weight Bearing Ratio and Four Square Step Test in Predicting Falls in Discharged Stroke Patients

Abstract Background We aimed to determine whether combined assessments of single movement tasks could predict falls in community dwelling people with stroke and it was more precision than the berg balance Scale consists of 14 movements. Methods This prospective cohort study performed at five rehabilitation hospitals in Japan. Participants comprised 78 patients with ambulatory stroke. The single movement task assessments performed at discharge and included the weight bearing ratio, the 30-second chair standing test, the one-leg standing time, the four square step test and the timed up and go test. The results were used to derive a logistic regression equation to predict falls within 6 months from discharge. Area under the curve was used to compare prediction accuracy between the logistic regression equation and the berg balance Scale. Results Overall, fifteen participants experienced a fall. The weight bearing ratio of the unaffected side and four square step test were observed to be significant assessments identified from the logistic regression analysis. The Area under the curve of the combined tests of weight bearing ratio of the unaffected side and four square step test was 0.78, which was higher than the than that of the berg balance Scale (0.70). Conclusions This study found that a combined assessment using single movement tasks including the weight bearing ratio of the unaffected side and four square step test predicted falls in people with stroke post-discharge more precisely than the berg balance Scale.