Abstract
Background—Falls are a major health care problem for older people and are associated with
cognitive dysfunction. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an increasingly recognized clinical
problem. No study has comprehensively compared normal volunteers with those with MCI for
falls risk factors in both the physiological and cognitive domains.
Objective—The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to comprehensively compare falls risk
factors in community-dwelling older women with and without MCI.
Design—A cross-sectional study.
Methods—158 community-dwelling women with Folstein’s Mini Mental State Examination
scores of ≥ 24 were included. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to categorise
participants as either having, or not having, MCI. Each participant’s fall risk profile was assessed
by the Physiological Profile Assessment (PPA). Three central executive functions were assessed:
1) set shifting by the Trail Making Test (Part B); 2) updating (i.e., working memory) by the verbal
digits backward test; and 3) response inhibition by the Stroop Colour-Word Test.
Results—Both the composite PPA score and its sub-component, postural sway performance
were significantly different between the two groups (P ≤ 0.03); those with MCI had higher
composite PPA scores and greater postural sway. Compared with those without MCI, participants
with MCI performed significantly worse on all three central executive functions tests (P ≤ 0.02).