Using the memory impairment screen over the telephone to determine fall risk in community-dwelling older adults

To the Editor: Nearly one-third of community-dwelling older adults aged 65 and older fall each year, and about 10% of these falls result in a serious injury, rendering falls a common and potentially devastating health problem.1 Cognitive assessments are currently a part of the multi-factorial fall risk assessment recommended by the American and British Geriatric Societies’ Clinical Practice Guideline for Prevention of Falls in Older Persons;2 however, there is a need for reliable, valid and time-efficient screening tools. The aim of this study was to determine whether a brief, telephone-administered screening for dementia, the Memory Impairment Screen by Telephone (MIS-T),3 could be used to determine fall risk over one year in a large sample of community-dwelling older adults.