The prevalence, assessment and associations of falls in dementia with Lewybodies and Alzheimer's disease

Falls were assessed for 3 months using a daily fall diary in 65 (30 dementi a with Lewy bodies, DLB; 35 Alzheimer's disease, AD) dementia patients from a case register, diagnosed using operationalised clinical criteria, with e stablished accuracy against post-mortem. Multiple falls (>5) occurred in 37 % of DLB patients and 6% of those with AD, often resulting in injury. None of the standard risk assessment tools identified fallers, but they did iden tify multiple fallers. More detailed evaluation methods examining gait patt erns, sway and neurovascular instability were not helpful. Multiple falls w ere associated with DLB, parkinsonian, previous falls, greater impairment o f activities of daily living and older age. Falls are particularly common i n DLB sufferers and may aid diagnosis. Treatment studies evaluating fall re duction strategies are a priority.