Balance measures of mini and brief balance evaluation system tests for Iranian population

Abstract

Introduction

Falling is a serious problem for all ages. There are several tests to assess balance. Mini-BESTest and brief-BESTest are balance tests for which there are no normative values for Iranian people. We aimed to provide the normative values of mini-BESTest and brief-BESTest among healthy Iranian adults.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was designed. Three hundred healthy adults (150 males and 150 females) in six age groups (18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, +70 years) completed the tests using Persian mini-BESTest and brief-BESTest. Normative values were calculated for age groups.

Results

Normative values of mini-BESTest and brief- BESTest decreased significantly with age (from 27 to 21.9 for mini-BESTest and from 22.9 to 15.4 for brief BESTest). There were no significant differences between genders except for females in 30-39 and 40-49 years age groups which scored better on brief-BESTest and mini-BESTest, respectively. Males had significantly scored better in brief- BESTest in 60-69 and ≥ 70 age groups.

Conclusions

The normative values of the mini-BESTest and brief-BESTest provided for healthy Iranian adults can help clinicians when assessing subjects with balance dysfunction.

Keywords: Balance, Mini-BESTest, Brief-BESTest, Normative values

J Prev Med Hyg. 2024 Mar; 65(1): E83–E92.

Published online 2024 Mar 31. doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2024.65.1.3051