The effect of a multicomponent exercise programme onelderly adults' risk of falling in nursing homes: A systematic review

Objective: To determine the effect of a multi-component exercise programme on elderly adults' risk of falling in nursing homes. Methods: A computerised search of published randomised controlled trials in the English language was performed using PubMed, Cochrane Library, the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), and the Institute for Scientific Information up to December 2017. We included high-quality articles that reported a score of >= 5 on the Physiotherapy Evidence Databasescale which compared multicomponent exercise with a single exercise programme in nursing homes, with the risk of falling as an outcome, among participants aged >= 65 years. Results: A total of 8 articles, comprising 382 participants, were included. All these articles scored 6-8 points out of 10 on the PEDro scale, with an average of 6.7 points. The mean age of participants in the included articles was ranged from 76 +/- 8.0 to 92 +/- 2.0 years, and286 (75%) participants were females. A multi-component exercise programme in the experimental group, which had 204 (53.4%) subjects significantly reduced the risk of falling in nursing homes compared to a single-exercise programme, which was used in the control group that had 178(46.6%) subjects. Conclusion: A multi-component exercise programme was found to be useful for reducing elderly adults' risk of falling in nursing homes.