Ballard 2004.

Study characteristics
Methods	RCT
Participants	Setting: USA N = 40 Sample: volunteers (100% women) Age (years): mean 72.9 (SD 6) Inclusion criteria: aged ≥ 65; ambulatory; community‐dwelling; history of falling in previous year or fear of future fall; able to moderate exercise Exclusion criteria: cardiovascular disease or extreme vertigo that might prohibit moderate exercise; requiring walker for support
Interventions	1. Exercise sessions (warm up, low impact aerobics, exercise for strength and balance, cool down) 1 hour, 3 x per wk, for 15 wk. Plus 6 home safety education classes. 2. Control: exercise sessions as above 1 hour, 3 x per wk, for 2 wk + videotape so could continue at home. Plus 6 home safety education classes as above.
Outcomes	1. Rate of falls 2. Number of people falling Falls a secondary outcome of study Other outcomes reported but not included in this review
Duration of the study	16 months
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: "assigned to exercise and control groups using stratified randomisation".
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Insufficient information to permit judgement
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Control group had 2 wk exercise programme ‐ study group 15 wk. Neither participants or study personnel blinded.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) Falls and fallers	Unclear risk	Falls data collected by telephone at 1 year. Blinding of telephone assessors not reported.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) Falls	Low risk	SeeAppendix 3 for method of assessment
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) Fallers	Low risk	SeeAppendix 3 for method of assessment
Risk of bias in recall of falls	High risk	Falls identified retrospectively during intervention at each home safety class (every 2 months), and by telephone follow‐up 1 year after end of intervention