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March 10, 2026Open Access

Evaluation of the Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme implemented across three United Kingdom regions: a prospective cohort study

Puntos clave

Assess the real-world effectiveness of the Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme delivered for 12 or 24 weeks across different UK regions.
Prospective cohort design involving 1,601 FaME attendees, median age 79.5 years.
Data collected at baseline and up to 24 weeks post-intervention.
Measured outcomes included self-reported falls, TUG performance, and Short FES-I scores.
Utilized univariate and multivariable regression analyses for data evaluation.
Odds of self-reported falls within 3 months decreased significantly (OR 0.16, p <.001).
TUG times improved at final follow-up compared to baseline (median difference -1.0 seconds, p <.001).
No significant change in Short FES-I scores observed.
24-week programmes correlated with faster TUG times and reduced fall-related concerns (p = 0.018).
Insufficient follow-up data limited power to detect differences in fall rates between programme durations.

Resumen

The Falls Management Exercise (FaME) programme, delivered over 24 weeks, reduces falls in randomised controlled trials and ‘real world’ delivery, but some services deliver shorter, adapted FaME programmes. We investigated the ‘real-world’ effectiveness of FaME delivered for 12 or 24 weeks across three UK regions. Design: prospective cohort study. Participants: 1,601 FaME programme attendees (median age 79.5 years), of whom 873 had follow-up data recorded. Setting: 14 provider organisations in Greater Manchester, Devon and the East Midlands. Procedure: Participant data were collected by FaME providers at baseline and up to 24 weeks later. Outcomes: Timed up-and-go (TUG); Short Falls Efficacy Scale-International (Short FES-I); at least one self-reported fall, and number of self-reported falls, in the past 3 months. Analysis: Univariate before-and-after tests; multivariable multilevel logistic, linear, Poisson, negative binomial regression. At final follow-up (≤24 weeks), compared to baseline, the odds of a self-reported fall within 3 months (Odds ratio 0.16 95% confidence interval [CI 0.10 to 0.25], p <.001) and TUG time had decreased (difference-between-paired-medians -1.0 (95% CI -1.50 to -1.0), p <.001). Short FES-I scores had not significantly changed. Twenty-four- rather than 12-week programmes were associated with faster TUG times (mean difference -3.31 seconds 95% CI -5.97 to -0.65) and reduced concerns about falling (mean Short FES-I difference -2.00 95% CI -3.65 to -0.34, p = 0.018), but no significant difference in the odds of a self-reported fall or number of falls within 3 months. FaME programmes of both 12 and 24-weeks were associated with improved functional mobility and reduced falls. Participants who attended 24-, rather than 12-week, programmes had significantly greater improvements in functional mobility and reduced concerns about falling. Due to follow-up data missingness, the study was not adequately powered to detect differences in falls risk or rate between 12 and 24-week programmes.

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