Studies were included if they met the following inclusion criteria: 1) Prospective or retrospective cohort studies or randomised control trials, 2) Studies that included community dwelling older adults as the population of interest, 3) Studies that validated the original version of the TUG test, 4) Studies that recorded a subsequent fall. Studies were excluded if their population of interest was limited to patients with specific neurological or orthopaedic condition e.g. Parkinson’s disease, stroke, hip fracture or amputation of a lower limb. Studies were also excluded if they were limited to a population with a particular medical condition e.g. patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. For the purposes of this review, we included studies where ≥80% of subjects were community dwelling and/or were described as self caring or independent. Studies where >20% of the subject population were described as institutionalised, living in nursing homes, residential care homes or geriatric inpatients were excluded. The definition of a subsequent fall was considered in the context of each individual study. We considered the following definition of a fall: ‘an unexpected event in which the patient comes to rest on the ground, floor or lower level as the reference standard [1 (link)] and variations of this definition were recorded in Table 1 that contains details of the included studies.
Two reviewers (EB, RG) read the titles and/or abstracts of the identified references and eliminated irrelevant studies. Studies that were considered eligible for inclusion were read fully in duplicate and their suitability for inclusion was independently determined by both RG and EB. Disagreement was managed by consensus. Data were extracted on study type and setting, patient demographics (age, gender) and clinical characteristics including relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria, person who administered the TUG, person who recorded the subsequent fall, the definition of a fall used. For the purposes of this paper, the unit of analysis was the patient or “faller” rather than each “fall” to avoid duplication bias. Authors were contacted by email to provide further information on patient cohorts where there was insufficient data provided. Studies that included data on the same patient cohort for more than one publication were only included once in the meta-analysis.
Two reviewers (EB, RG) read the titles and/or abstracts of the identified references and eliminated irrelevant studies. Studies that were considered eligible for inclusion were read fully in duplicate and their suitability for inclusion was independently determined by both RG and EB. Disagreement was managed by consensus. Data were extracted on study type and setting, patient demographics (age, gender) and clinical characteristics including relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria, person who administered the TUG, person who recorded the subsequent fall, the definition of a fall used. For the purposes of this paper, the unit of analysis was the patient or “faller” rather than each “fall” to avoid duplication bias. Authors were contacted by email to provide further information on patient cohorts where there was insufficient data provided. Studies that included data on the same patient cohort for more than one publication were only included once in the meta-analysis.