Older women with age-related macular degeneration have a greater risk of falls: a phy

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Older women with age-related macular degeneration have a greater risk of falls: a physiological profile assessment study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008 May;56(5):800-7 Authors: Szabo SM, Janssen PA, Khan K, Potter MJ, Lord SR OBJECTIVES: To determine whether older women with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are at greater risk of falls. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: A hospital-based ophthalmology clinic in Vancouver, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred fifteen older (aged > or = 70) community-dwelling women with exudative AMD (AMD cohort) and two control groups: 54 community-dwelling women without exudative AMD drawn from the same community (non-AMD cohort) and 341 community-dwelling Australian women (Australian normative cohort). MEASUREMENTS: Participants were assessed for falls risk using the short-form Physiological Profile Assessment (PPA), which provides a fall risk index score and subcomponent measures of vision, proprioception, strength, reaction time, and postural sway. RESULTS: The mean fall risk index score in the AMD cohort (3.20) was significantly greater than that of the non-AMD cohort (1.21; P