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Incidence and prediction of falls in Parkinson's disease: a prospective multidisciplinary study. OBJECTIVES: To accurately establish the incidence of falls in Parkinson's disease (PD) and to investigate predictive risk factors for fallers from baseline data. METHODS: 109 subjects with idiopathic PD diagnosed according to the brain bank criteria underwent a multidisciplinary baseline assessment comprising demographic and historical data, disease specific rating scales, physiotherapy assessment, tests of visual, cardiovascular and autonomic function, and bone densitometry. Patients were then prospectively followed up for one year using weekly prepaid postcards along with telephone follow up. RESULTS: Falls occurred in 68.3% of the subjects. Previous falls, disease duration, dementia, and loss of arm swing were independent predictors of falling. There were also significant associations between disease severity, balance impairment, depression, and falling. CONCLUSIONS: Falls are a common problem in PD and some of the major risk factors are potentially modifiable. There is a need for future studies to look at interventions to prevent falls in PD. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2002 Jun;72(6):721-725 Wood BH, Bilclough JA, Bowron A, Walker RW. UK North Tyneside General Hospital, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, NE29 8NH, UK. PMID: 12023412 janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky pd: 55/41/37 cd: 55/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask] smail: 375 Country Street, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 a new voice: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn