Falls: USPSTF Updates Guidelines; Limited Benefit to Multidisciplinary Strategies

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends exercise or physical therapy and vitamin D supplementation to prevent falls in community-dwelling adults age 65 or older who are at increased risk for falls, according to clinical guidelines published in the August 7, 2012, Annals of Internal Medicine. As part of an update to its 1996 recommendation statement on counseling to prevent household and recreational injuries, USPSTF reviewed new evidence on the effectiveness and harms of primary-care-relevant interventions to prevent falls in community-dwelling older adults. As a result of this review, the USPSTF does not recommend automatically performing an in-depth multifactorial risk assessment in conjunction with comprehensive management of identified risks to prevent falls in community-dwelling adults age 65 or older because the likelihood of benefit is small. Although the evidence does not support routinely performing an in-depth multifactorial risk assessment with management in all older adults, there may be reasons for providing this service to certain individuals.