Search for a command to run...
Background and Purpose: International guidelines stress the importance of screening older adults for falls risk, but not all physical therapists implement the recommendations. Knowledge of referral diagnoses for physical therapy services that have a higher falls risk could drive increased screening, assessment, and interventions. This retrospective descriptive study examined falls risk trends among older adults referred to outpatient physical therapy services and identified relationships between falls risk and referral diagnosis. Methods: Data in this descriptive study came from a health system across 6 states from 2018 to 2022. Physical therapy episodes of care were included if individuals were aged 65 years or older, were ambulatory, and had completed falls risk screenings, leading to 95 061 episodes of care in the study. Referral diagnosis, sociodemographic information, and falls risk scores from the Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries (STEADI) Stay Independent Questionnaire were analyzed. Referral diagnoses with the greatest falls risk were identified with a sub-analysis to examine changes in trends due to age. Results and Discussion: Increased falls risk was present in 45% of older adults referred for physical therapy services with risk increasing with age and females having a greater risk than males. Twenty-two out of 42 referral diagnosis labels had falls risk scores above the threshold of 4 or more points on the STEADI Stay Independent Questionnaire. Those with neurological diagnoses such as stroke, neuropathies, degenerative conditions, and lower extremity issues such as amputations and fractures presented with the highest falls risk score. Conclusions: Physical therapists need to consider falls risk in all older adults with additional attention given to those 75 years of age or older and those with neurological diagnoses and lower extremity issues. Screening should be prioritized in these individuals with a plan in place for appropriate interventions to address falls risk based on screening results. National and international guidelines on falls prevention should be used as a guide.