Falls and fall-related injuries are a serious cause of morbidity and cost to society. Foot problems and inappropriate footwear may increase the risk of falls; therefore podiatric interventions may play a role in reducing falls. The REFORM trial aims to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a multifaceted podiatry intervention in reducing falls in people aged 65 years and over in a UK and Irish setting. The primary outcome is rate of falls (falls/person/time) over 12 months assessed by patient self-report falls diary. Secondary self-report outcome measures include: the proportion of single and multiple fallers and time to first fall over a 12-month period; Short Falls Efficacy Scale—International; fear of falling in the past 4 weeks; Frenchay Activities Index; fracture rate; Geriatric Depression Scale; EuroQoL-five dimensional scale 3-L; health service utilization at 6 and 12 months. A qualitative study will examine the acceptability of the package of care to participants and podiatrists.

Staff: Prof Hylton B Menz

Study protocol: http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN68240461

The REFORM trial is led by Professor David Torgerson from the University of York and is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (UK) Health Technology Assessment program.