Evaluation of Accelerometer-Based Walking-Turn Features for Fall-Risk Assessment in Older Adults

Falls in older adult populations are a serious health concern, resulting in physical and psychological trauma in addition to increased pressure on healthcare systems. Faller classification and fall risk assessment in elderly populations can facilitate preventative care before a fall occurs. Few research studies in the fall risk assessment field have focused on wearable-sensor-based features obtained during walking-turns. Examining turn based features may improve fall-risk assessment techniques. Seventy-six older individuals (74.15 ± 7.0 years), categorized as prospective fallers (28 participants) and non-fallers (43 participants), completed a six-minute walk test with accelerometers attached to their lower legs and pelvis. Turn and straight walking sections were segmented from the six-minute walk test, with a feature set extracted for each participant. This work aimed to determine if significant differences between prospective faller (PF) and non-faller (NF) groups existed for turn or straight walking features. A mixed-design ANOVA with post-hoc analysis showed no significant differences between faller groups for straight-walking features, while five turn based features had significant differences (p