Purpose: Falls are a significant factor affecting the health of older adults and are closely related to cognitive function. Adopting an effective method to evaluate the risk of falls in older adults is essential for improving their healthcare. This study combined cognitive and motor functions to determine a reliable probe reaction time during water-carrying walking.
Patients and Methods: We divided 100 community-dwelling older adults (aged 65 years and over) into two groups according to their fall history: the fall group and no-fall group. All subjects were tested on fall tasks using the timed up-and-go (TUG) test, 10-m walk timing test, trail marking test part-A (TMT-A), and water-carrying walking probe reaction time (P-RT).
Results: The fall group showed slower walking speeds and longer TUG, TMT-A, and P-RT times than the no-fall group. In the logistic regression analysis with falls as the dependent variable, water-carrying walking P-RT was identified as a useful factor, and the cut-off value of the water-carrying walking P-RT was 454 ms, which was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic curve.
Conclusion: The P-RT of the water-carrying walking test was found to be credible and useful for evaluating the fall risk in older adults. Therefore, it is recommended that the P-RT-based dual-task be used as a predictive indicator of future falls in the older population.

Keywords: falls, probe reaction time, older adults, dual task


中文翻译：

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基于提水步行过程中探针反应时间的老年人跌倒风险评估

目的：跌倒是影响老年人健康的重要因素，与认知功能密切相关。采用有效的方法来评估老年人跌倒的风险对于改善他们的医疗保健至关重要。这项研究结合了认知和运动功能，以确定载水行走期间可靠的探针反应时间。
患者和方法：我们根据跌倒史将 100 名社区老年人（65 岁及以上）分为两组：跌倒组和无跌倒组。所有受试者均使用定时起立 (TUG) 测试、10 米步行计时测试、步道标记测试 A 部分 (TMT-A) 和载水步行探针反应时间 (P-转发）。
结果：跌倒组比未跌倒组行走速度更慢，TUG、TMT-A 和 P-RT 时间更长。在以跌倒为因变量的逻辑回归分析中，拎水行走 P-RT 被认为是一个有用因素，且拎水行走 P-RT 的截止值为 454 ms，使用以下公式进行评估：接收者操作特征曲线。
结论：载水步行测试的 P-RT 对于评估老年人跌倒风险是可信且有用的。因此，建议将基于 P-RT 的双任务用作老年人群未来跌倒的预测指标。

关键词：跌倒，探针反应时间，老年人，双重任务