Minimal Clinically Important Differences in Values on the Falls Efficacy Scale-International and Brief-Balance Evaluation Systems Test for Outpatients with Lower Extremity Fractures

Abstract

[Purpose] To clarify the minimal clinically important differences (MCID) in values on the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) and the Brief-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Brief-BESTest) for outpatients with lower extremity fractures. [Participants and Methods] Thirty outpatients participated in this study. MCID values of the FES-I and Brief-BESTest were estimated using the anchor-based method and the distribution-based method. [Results] For the FES-I, the MCID value was 5.5 points according to the distribution-based method. For the Brief-BESTest, the MCID value was 2.5 points according to the anchor-based method and 2.0 points according to the distribution-based method. [Conclusion] These results suggest that an improvement of ≥6 points on the FES-I and an improvement of ≥3 points in the Brief-BESTest are good indicators of substantial improvement in status.