OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the postural balance and risk of falls in institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly. METHODS: The study included 45 institutionalized and 43 non-institutionalized elderly. The risk of falls and balance were assessed through the Berg Balance Scale. The comparison of the balance between the groups was performed using the Mann-Whitney test. The risk of falls between populations was evaluated. We adopted a value of p ≤ 0.05 as significant. RESULTS: There was a difference between the Berg Scale scores in the populations studied (p<0.0001). The results showed that the institutionalized population has 9 times more likely to fall than elderly of the community (p=0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that postural balance is lower in the institutionalized population, increasing their risk of falling.
Elderly; Demographic aging; Accidental falls; Postural balance
