• Kim Delbaere, Jacqueline C T Close, Nicole A Kochan, Perminder S Sachdev, and Stephen R Lord.
• Falls and Balance Research Group, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, Sydney, Australia.
• Age Ageing. 2012 May 1; 41 (3): 404-8.

Backgroundaccurate classification of older people into fallers and non-fallers is crucial for falls research, but largely dependent on the accuracy of fall reporting by the participants.Objectiveto investigate the influence of memory in relation to fall reporting.Subjectsfive hundred community-dwelling adults aged 70-90 years.Methodsmemory and executive functioning were assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning and Trail Making test, respectively. Fall risk was estimated using the physiological profile assessment (PPA). Falls were recorded prospectively for 12 months using monthly falls diaries and follow-up phone calls as required.ResultsSpearman correlations showed that falls were significantly correlated to worse executive functioning, worse PPA scores and better memory. People with better memory had an increased risk of being classified as single fallers and multiple fallers, but not when reported injuries were included as part of the definition.Conclusiongood memory appears to influence the recording of falls in community-dwelling older people and likely reflects a reporting bias. In research studies, there may be value in using a combination of injurious falls and multiple falls when classifying people into faller and non-faller groups.

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