Assessment of balance and level of functional independence of elderly persons in the community

Objectives:To compare the balance and level of independence of elderly persons and to correlate these variables with age, cognitive status and number of medications taken.Methods: A total of 172 individuals, aged over 60 and without cognitive deficit were included in the study. The risk of falls was performed using the Berg Balance Scale and functional independence through the Barthel Index. Correlations were performed by Spearman's correlation index, and association was tested with the chi-square test, with p≤0.05 considered significant.Results:There was a moderate correlation between the risk of falls and functional independence (r=0.38; p研究目的：比较老年人的平衡能力与独立自理水平，并分析上述变量与年龄、认知状态及服药数量之间的相关性。 研究方法：本研究共纳入172名60岁以上且无认知障碍的受试者。采用伯格平衡量表（Berg Balance Scale）评估跌倒风险，通过巴氏指数（Barthel Index）评定功能独立性。相关性分析采用斯皮尔曼相关系数，组间关联检验采用卡方检验（chi-square test），以p≤0.05为差异具有统计学意义。 研究结果：跌倒风险与功能独立性之间存在中等程度相关性（r=0.38；p