Evaluation of different fall risk screening tools for risk prediction of ophthalmology inpatients

To evaluate the risk factors for falls in adult ophthalmic inpatients and compare the accuracy and predictability of fall risk screening tools.

A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 1102 hospitalised patients in ophthalmology ward. Fall risk screening was performed within 8 h of admission using the following tools: Falling Risk Assessment Tool in Ophthalmology Inpatients (FRAT), Morse Fall Scale (MFS), Johns Hopkins fall-risk Assessment Tool (JHFRAT), St Thomas Risk Assessment Tool (STRATIFY), and Hendrich II fall-risk Model (HFRM). Taking the occurrence of falls or the occurrence of falls as a positive standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and area under the curve of the risk assessment tool were calculated to determine accuracy and predictability.

In this study, 1102 met the inclusion criteria. The mean age was 56.81(58.00) and 536(48.6) were females. 61(5.54%) experienced falling or falling status. STRATIFY had the highest sensitivity(85.2%), followed by FRAT(70.5%). The specificity of MFS was the highest(91.7%), followed by FRAT(69.5%). However, in clinical practice, risk assessment tools are difficult to have high sensitivity and high specificity, so they are more inclined to high-sensitivity assessment tools to avoid missing high-risk groups. According to the evaluation results, FRAT has both good sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, we identified significant risk factors for falls in ophthalmic patients, such as fall history, visual acuity, age, excretion and gait.

FRAT was the most suitable fall assessment tool and was essential for reliable screening of people at high risk of ophthalmic falls.

After explaining the purpose, the patients received our fall risk assessment and answered the corresponding questionnaire questions.