Abstract
Background: Falls are common among people with neurological diseases and are associated with many negative physical, psychosocial and economic consequences. Implementation of single diagnosis falls prevention interventions is currently problematic due to lack of participants and resources. Given the similarities in falls risk factors across stroke, Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the development of an intervention designed for mixed neurological populations seems plausible and may provide a solution to current implementation challenges. This umbrella review aims to summarise the totality of evidence regarding the effectiveness of non-pharmacological falls prevention interventions for people with MS, PD and stroke and to identify the commonalities and differences between interventions that are effective for each disease to inform the development of an intervention for mixed diagnoses. Methods: This umbrella review will be conducted and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Electronic databases and grey literature will be searched. Systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials (RCTS) and studies investigating the effects of non-pharmacological falls prevention interventions on falls outcomes among people with MS, PD and stroke will be included. Methodological quality of included reviews will be assessed using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews 2 tool. The Grading of Recommendations Assessments, Development and Evaluation framework will be used to rate the quality of evidence. A summary of evidence table and narrative synthesis will be utilised to clearly indicate the findings. Discussion: This umbrella review presents a novel and timely approach to synthesise existing falls literature to identify effective non-pharmacological interventions for people with MS, PD and stroke. Of importance, this umbrella review will use a robust methodology to explore the key differences and similarities in effective interventions for individuals with these neurological diseases to facilitate the development of an intervention for mixed neurological groups.
Highlights
Fall rates are high among people with neurological diseases and are often associated with many negative consequences
Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article. This umbrella review presents a novel and timely approach to synthesise existing falls literature to identify effective non-pharmacological interventions for people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and stroke. This umbrella review will use a robust methodology to explore the key differences and similarities in effective interventions for individuals with these neurological diseases to facilitate the development of an intervention for mixed neurological groups
Study status The authors have commenced searches for this umbrella review. This umbrella review will use a robust methodology to present evidence regarding the effectiveness of non-pharmacological falls prevention interventions on falls outcomes among individuals with MS, PD and stroke
Summary
Fall rates are high among people with neurological diseases and are often associated with many negative consequences. Falls result in increased acute healthcare utilisation, higher home-care needs and/or greater institutional care needs[5,6,7,11] This high rate of falls and range of associated physical, social and economic consequences highlights the need for an effective falls prevention intervention. Given the similarities in falls risk factors across stroke, Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS), the development of an intervention designed for mixed neurological populations seems plausible and may provide a solution to current implementation challenges This umbrella review aims to summarise the totality of evidence regarding the effectiveness of nonpharmacological falls prevention interventions for people with MS, PD and stroke and to identify the commonalities and differences between interventions that are effective for each disease to inform the development of an intervention for mixed diagnoses. A summary of evidence table and narrative synthesis will be utilised to clearly indicate the findings
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