Background falls and fall-related injuries are common in older adults, have negative effects on functional independence and quality of life and are associated with increased morbidity, mortality and health related costs. Current guidelines are inconsistent, with no up-to-date, globally applicable ones present. Objectives to create a set of evidence- and expert consensus-based falls prevention and management recommendations applicable to older adults for use by healthcare and other professionals that consider: (i) a person-centred approach that includes the perspectives of older adults with lived experience, caregivers and other stakeholders; (ii) gaps in previous guidelines; (iii) recent developments in e-health and (iv) implementation across locations with limited access to resources such as low- and middle-income countries. Methods a steering committee and a worldwide multidisciplinary group of experts and stakeholders, including older adults, were assembled. Geriatrics and gerontological societies were represented. Using a modified Delphi process, recommendations from 11 topic-specific working groups (WGs), 10 ad-hoc WGs and a WG dealing with the perspectives of older adults were reviewed and refined. The final recommendations were determined by voting. Recommendations all older adults should be advised on falls prevention and physical activity. Opportunistic case finding for falls risk is recommended for community-dwelling older adults. Those considered at high risk should be offered a comprehensive multifactorial falls risk assessment with a view to co-design and implement personalised multidomain interventions. Other recommendations cover details of assessment and intervention components and combinations, and recommendations for specific settings and populations. Conclusions the core set of recommendations provided will require flexible implementation strategies that consider both local context and resources.

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Introduction Gait impairment is common in neurodegenerative disorders. Specifically, gait variability—the stride‐to‐stride fluctuations in distance and time—has been associated with neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment. However, quantitative comparisons of gait impairments across the cognitive spectrum of dementias have not been systematically investigated. Methods Older adults (N = 500) with subjective cognitive impairment, Parkinson disease (PD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), PD‐MCI, Alzheimer's disease (AD), PD‐dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia, as well cognitive normal controls, who were assessed for their gait and cognitive performance. Results Factor analyses grouped 11 quantitative gait parameters and identified four independent gait domains: rhythm, pace, variability, and postural control, for group comparisons and classification analysis. Among these domains, only high gait variability was associated with lower cognitive performance and accurately discriminated AD from other neurodegenerative and cognitive conditions. Discussion Our findings indicate that high gait variability is a marker of cognitive‐cortical dysfunction, which can help to identify Alzheimer's disease dementia.

IMPORTANCEWith the global population aging, falls and fall-related injuries are ubiquitous, and several clinical practice guidelines for falls prevention and management for individuals 60 years or older have been developed. A systematic evaluation of the recommendations and agreement level is lacking.OBJECTIVES To perform a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines for falls prevention and management for adults 60 years or older in all settings (eg, community, acute care, and nursing homes), evaluate agreement in recommendations, and identify potential gaps. EVIDENCE REVIEW A systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for SystematicReviews and Meta-analyses statement methods for clinical practice guidelines on fall prevention and management for older adults was conducted (updated July 1, 2021) using MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, PEDro, and Epistemonikos databases. Medical Subject Headings search terms were related to falls, clinical practice guidelines, management and prevention, and older adults, with no restrictions on date, language, or setting for inclusion. Three independent reviewers selected records for full-text examination if they followed evidence-and consensus-based processes and assessed the quality of the guidelines using Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation II (AGREE-II) criteria. The strength of the recommendations was evaluated using Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation scores, and agreement across topic areas was assessed using the Fleiss κ statistic. FINDINGSOf 11 414 records identified, 159 were fully reviewed and assessed for eligibility, and 15 were included. All 15 selected guidelines had high-quality AGREE-II total scores (mean [SD], 80.1% [5.6%]), although individual quality domain scores for clinical applicability (mean [SD], 63.4% [11.4%]) and stakeholder (clinicians, patients, or caregivers) involvement (mean [SD], 76.3% [9.0%]) were lower. A total of 198 recommendations covering 16 topic areas in 15 guidelines were identified after screening 4767 abstracts that proceeded to 159 full texts. Most (Ն11) guidelines strongly recommended performing risk stratification, assessment tests for gait and balance, fracture and osteoporosis management, multifactorial interventions, medication review, exercise promotion, environment modification, vision and footwear correction, referral to physiotherapy, and cardiovascular interventions. The strengths of the recommendations were inconsistent for vitamin D supplementation, addressing cognitive factors, and falls prevention education. Recommendations on use of hip protectors and digital technology or wearables were often missing. None of the examined guidelines included a patient or caregiver panel in their deliberations.

Background:The association of cognitive and motor impairments in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases is thought to be related to damage in the common brain networks shared by cognitive and cortical motor control processes. These common brain networks play a pivotal role in selecting movements and postural synergies that meet an individual’s needs. Pathology in this “highest level” of motor control produces abnormalities of gait and posture referred to as highest-level gait disorders. Impairments in cognition and mobility, including falls, are present in almost all neurodegenerative diseases, suggesting common mechanisms that still need to be unraveled.Objective:To identify motor-cognitive profiles across neurodegenerative diseases in a large cohort of patients.Methods:Cohort study that includes up to 500 participants, followed every year for three years, across five neurodegenerative disease groups: Alzheimer’s disease/mild cognitive impairment, frontotemporal degeneration, vascular cognitive impairment, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease. Gait and balance will be assessed using accelerometers and electronic walkways, evaluated at different levels of cognitive and sensory complexity, using the dual-task paradigm.Results:Comparison of cognitive and motor performances across neurodegenerative groups will allow the identification of motor-cognitive phenotypes through the standardized evaluation of gait and balance characteristics.Conclusions:As part of the Ontario Neurodegenerative Research Initiative (ONDRI), the gait and balance platform aims to identify motor-cognitive profiles across neurodegenerative diseases. Gait assessment, particularly while dual-tasking, will help dissect the cognitive and motor contribution in mobility and cognitive decline, progression to dementia syndromes, and future adverse outcomes including falls and mortality.

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Background Gait variability is an early fall predictor. However, it is unknown how gait variability of older adults at high risk of falls is affected by an obstacle negotiation task. We aimed to compare gait performance between older adults with significant history of falls (i.e. fallers) and nonfallers while approaching an obstacle crossing. Methods A total of 137 older adults without dementia were enrolled (72.7 ± 5.1 years of age; 60.5% women) from the “Gait and Brain Study.” Fallers were defined as having at least one injurious fall or at least two noninjurious falls in the previous 12 months. Participants performed gait assessments under unobstructed and obstructed conditions. During the obstructed condition, participants walked and stepped over an ad hoc obstacle set at 15% of participants’ height, transversally placed on a 6-meter electronic walkway. Gait speed and step-to-step variabilities were quantified from the last six steps prior to obstacle crossing. Analysis of variance models adjusted for age, sex, fear of falling, comorbidities, and unobstructed gait were used to compare gait performance of fallers and nonfallers during an obstacle approaching. Results In the study, 27 older adults were identified as fallers and 110 as nonfallers. Fallers had higher step time variability and step length variability when approaching an obstacle compared with nonfallers, although groups had comparable gait performance during unobstructed walking. Conclusion Gait variability of older individuals at high risk of falling is more disturbed, compared with low-risk individuals, while approaching an obstacle crossing. High gait variability prior to crossing an obstacle may be a risk factor for falls.