“Go360”-A Fall Risk Assessment Smartphone Application for Older Adults

Globally, falls are the second leading cause of death and early identification of fall risk among older adults is very important to plan preventive measures. The literature has shown that a smartphone (SP) can be used for fall detection and fall risk assessment.

To develop a smartphone application (SA) for older adults to assess their fall risk based on clinical practice guidelines (CPG) and to pilot test the application.

A SA named “Go360” was developed with three main built-in sensors of the phone to assess the fall risk using Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), 30-Second Chair Stand Test (30SCST), and Four Stage Balance Test (4SBT) along with body sway and gait speed data. The SA was pilot tested with 8 older adults concurrently with standard manual tests.

The results showed that SA overestimated the TUG, 4SBT stage 2 and 4SBT stage 3 test values. Conversely, there was no difference in 30SCST, 4SBT stage 1 and 4SBT stage 4 values. The fall risk matched with the manual test results.

The newly developed Go360 SA detects the fall risk using 3 evidence-based functional tests in agreeable level with the standard manual test and it can be used by older adults for self-checking.