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Eost-Telling C, Yang Y, Norman G, Hall A, Hanratty B, Knapp M, Robinson L, Todd C. Digital technologies to prevent falls in people living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment: a rapid systematic overview of systematic reviews. Age Ageing 2024; 53:afad238. [PMID: 38219225 PMCID: PMC10788098 DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afad238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2023] [Revised: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/16/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Falls are a common cause of potentially preventable death, disability and loss of independence with an annual estimated cost of £4.4bn. People living with dementia (PlwD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have an increased fall risk. This overview evaluates evidence for technologies aiming to reduce falls and fall risk for PlwD or MCI. METHODS In October 2022, we searched five databases for evidence syntheses. We used standard methods to rapidly screen, extract data, assess risk of bias and overlap, and synthesise the evidence for each technology type. RESULTS We included seven systematic reviews, incorporating 22 relevant primary studies with 1,412 unique participants. All reviews had critical flaws on AMSTAR-2: constituent primary studies were small, heterogeneous, mostly non-randomised and assessed as low or moderate quality. Technologies assessed were: wearable sensors, environmental sensor-based systems, exergaming, virtual reality systems. We found no evidence relating to apps. Review evidence for the direct impact on falls was available only from environmental sensors, and this was inconclusive. For wearables and virtual reality technologies there was evidence that technologies may differentiate PlwD who fell from those who did not; and for exergaming that balance may be improved. CONCLUSIONS The evidence for technology to reduce falls and falls risk for PlwD and MCI is methodologically weak, based on small numbers of participants and often indirect. There is a need for higher-quality RCTs to provide robust evidence for effectiveness of fall prevention technologies. Such technologies should be designed with input from users and consideration of the wider implementation context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Eost-Telling
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Yang Yang
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Gill Norman
- Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
| | - Alex Hall
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - Barbara Hanratty
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE4 5PL, UK
| | - Martin Knapp
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit, Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
| | - Louise Robinson
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit, Population Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE4 5PL, UK
| | - Chris Todd
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Older People and Frailty Policy Research Unit, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
- Division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
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