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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Review of 219 studies in older adults: balance and resistance programs helped prevent falls

Pillay and colleagues · Systematic reviews · 2024

Original title: Falls prevention interventions for community-dwelling older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of benefits, harms, and patient values and preferences.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Supervised, long-term balance and resistance programs were among those with the most certain benefit for preventing falls over 1 to 2 years. Many non-fall outcomes had very low certainty.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
219 studies, 167,864 people · community-dwelling adults aged 65 and older
What was tested
Many falls-prevention programs, including balance and resistance exercise, vs usual care
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Systematic reviews, 2024
Source
PubMed record 39593159. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 219 studies with 167,864 people.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: death and healthy aging

    0

    Not done yet. This is the step that would answer the question.

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    9

    7 benefit, 2 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    9

    8 benefit, 1 mixed

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does strength training help you live longer?”

Linked to longer life; not proven.

Confidence: low. Based on 26 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer
  • Part of the finding “Trials show better function in frail older adults”.
  • Summed up in “What reviews found”: Pooled 219 trials with 167,864 adults aged 65 or older. Supervised, long balance/resistance programs and group Tai Chi had the most certain benefit for preventing falls over 1-2 years. Many other outcomes had very low certainty.

Other reviews on this question

See all 26 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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