European Geriatric Medicine - Supplement 1 - Volume 7 - October 2016

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three conditions (normal walking, backward-counting and verbal
fluency) in order to calculate the dual-task cost. Field notes completed
by the interventionist were collected.
Results: Ten adults (median age 84, range 69–89; 50% women) with
a mild cognitive impairment (median MoCA 21, range 16 –26) were
recruited. Adherence to the sessions was high with 84% of the total
possible number of sessions completed and a mean 10 intervention
sessions (range 6 –12) per participant. Mean differences between
pre and post intervention assessment demonstrated improvement
in the PPA (MD = −0.6; CI − 1.5,0.3), BBS (MD = 2.8; CI 0.9,4.7) and
TUG (MD = −0.9; CI −3.5,1.7). Improvements in dual-task cost assess-
ments were only found in step width (back-count MD = −10.6; CI
− 24.4,3.1: verbal fluency MD = −7.4; −16.1,1.4) and step time variabil-
ity (back-count MD = −40.2; CI −114.2,33.7: verbal fluency MD = −11.6;
CI −64,40.8) after the intervention. Thematic analysis of field notes
produced two major topic’s including 16 themes.
Conclusion: A combined physical and cognitive exercise-based inter-
vention was deliverable, feasible, and acceptable to older adults with
mild cognitive impairment. Recommendations are made for the
content and delivery of the intervention for future evaluation.
P-428
Risk of falls in elderly: exploratory study
J. Bruno1, J. Gonçalves1, C. Reis1, A. Pedro1, L. Pedro1. 1Escola Superior de
Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Portugal
Introduction: Older people have multiple characteristics which
increase the risk of falling and ultimately decrease quality of life. The
purpose of this study is to assess the risk of falling in the elderly by
studying history of falling, fear of falling, personal and functional
characteristics.
Methods: This is an exploratory, transversal and quantitative study.
Elders from 2 institutions in the district of Lisbon were included in the
analysis (n = 54). Two instruments were used: (1) a questionnaire
to assess personal and demographic characteristics (age, sex, actual
diseases, other clinical conditions, medication), history of falls (within
1 month, 3 months and more than 3 months), fear of falling, and
functional characteristics (physical activity and walking aids); (2) the
Timed Up and Go test (TUG) whose patients with TUG ≥ 13.5 sec, were
considered at risk of falling.
Results: Among 54 participants (average age: 74 years; 72% female),
78% were medicated (mostly with hypertensive drugs), 65% reported
visual or auditory impairment, 76% underwent physical activity of
light and moderate intensity with most participating in sedentary
leisure activities. As for the history of falls, 50% had more than 13.5
seconds in TUG (risk of falling), 80% had fallen, mainly at home (48%)
and 65% reported fear of falling.
Keys conclusion: A substantial part of the population studied has
falls risk factors, evoking the need to increase physical activity and
integration on a physical therapy program to prevent falling.
P-429
The role of spa therapy in consequences of osteoarthritis
C. Caetano1, H. Fernandes2. 1Unidade de Saúde Familiar D. Jordão,
2Centro Hospitalar do Oeste, Lisboa, Portugal
Introduction: The OA (osteoarthrosis) is a health problem very
prevalent in elderly people. Elderly people frequently have multiples
comorbilities what limited therapeutic options. Spa therapy is an
optionwith fewadverse effects, and is very search by these people. The
aim this study is verify the evidence on effectiveness of spa therapy
(balneotherapy) in OA.
Methods: We performed a brief review and searched studies in
PubMed and Google Search data from 2010 up to December 2015 that
evaluated the role of balneotherapy in improvement of pain, function
and quality of life, of elderly people with osteoarthritis.
Results: We found 68 studies in PubMed. We selected the most
relevant reviews, that were eight. In all studies balneotherapy were
more effectiveness than no treatment, in improvement of pain,
function and quality of life, overall in osteoarthritis of knee. All
reviews consistently found in RCT’ s evaluated a decrease analgesic
intake. This fact, contributed the review of OARSI guidelines for the
non-surgical management of knee osteoarthritis. Two reviews con-
cluded that the effects of spa therapy was maintained for long terms,
comparative to rehabilitation non thermal, but the studies that
support these reviews was poor quality.
Conclusions: Although of poor quality of trials that support reviews,
it’s considered that balneotherapy is more effective that no treatment,
in improvement of pain, function and quality of life. Furthermore,
apparently there are a decrease of relative costs, with less consump-
tion of analgesic. So, this alternative treatment is an option to consider,
but is needed more quality trials.
P-430
Four step square test results in older adults: gender differences
E.I. Isik1, F. Altug2, U. Cavlak2. 1Cukurova University, Adana, 2Pamukkale
University, Denizli, Turkey
Objectives: In the elderly population, loss of balance is a common
health problem. That’s why; measuring the balance ability in older
adults is vital. Four Step Square Test (FSST) is also widely used to
measure balance disturbances in geriatric rehabilitation. The reliabil-
ity and validity of the FSST has been appraised in a group of Turkish
older adults age 65 and over. The aim of this study was to show the
effect of gender in older adults, who are independent in daily living
activities. On the other hand, we aimed to search the relation between
age and FSST score in the sample.
Methods: A total of 80 volunteer older adults aged 65– 85 included
in this study, broken into two groups by gender; (1) women
mean age = 72.3 ± 5.5 yrs. (n = 36); (2) men mean age = 72.9 ± 4.7 yrs.
(n = 44). The FSST was used to evaluate the sample.
Results: The scores of FSST the compared groups are as follow:
women = 15.7 ± 5.4 sec.; men = 14.8 ± 4.7 sec. Therewas not significant
difference between women and men (p ≥ 0.05). A significant positive
relation was found between age and the FSST score of the sample
(p ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion: The findings obtained from this study indicate that
gender has not impact on the FSST score in older adults. However
ageing has negative effect on the FSST score. Ageing makes the FSST
score longer.
P-431
The association between the upper extremity function and balance
performance in older adults
K. Cekok1, T. Kahraman2, B.O. Ugut2, A. Genc 2, P. Keskinoglu3.
1Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Medical Park
Hospital, 2School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Dokuz Eylül
University, 3Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Dokuz
Eylül University, Izmir, Turkey
Introduction: The development of trunk stability and central axis
control is considered to be a prerequisite to upper extremity function
and hand usage. It is hypothesized that proximal stability as a
surrogate of balance allows for the independent use of the arms and
hands in manipulative and purposeful activity. The purpose of this
study was to investigate the association between the upper extremity
function and balance performance in older adults.
Methods: Eighty older adults from community and a nursing home
participated in this cross-sectional study. The upper extremity func-
tion in terms of fine manual dexterity or the manipulative skill was
assessed with the Nine-Hole Peg Test (9HPT). The balance perform-
ance was assessed with commonly used clinical tools including the
Berg Balance Scale, Timed Up and Go, Timed Up and Go-cognition, and
Four Step Square Test.
Results: Therewere 44 female and 36 male participants with a median
age of 75 (min-max: 60–90) years. There were moderate to strong
significant correlations between the 9HPT and all the measures of
balance performance (p < 0.05).
Poster presentations / European Geriatric Medicine 7S1 (2016) S29–S259 S143