You are here

Responses

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Original research
Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals
Compose a Response to This Article
Compose Response

More information about text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Author Information
First or given name, e.g. 'Peter'.
Your last, or family, name, e.g. 'MacMoody'.
Your email address, e.g. higgs-boson@gmail.com
Your role and/or occupation, e.g. 'Orthopedic Surgeon'.
Your organization or institution (if applicable), e.g. 'Royal Free Hospital'.
Statement of Competing Interests

PLEASE NOTE:

  • A rapid response is a moderated but not peer reviewed online response to a published article in a BMJ journal; it will not receive a DOI and will not be indexed unless it is also republished as a Letter, Correspondence or as other content. Find out more about rapid responses.
  • We intend to post all responses which are approved by the Editor, within 14 days (BMJ Journals) or 24 hours (The BMJ), however timeframes cannot be guaranteed. Responses must comply with our requirements and should contribute substantially to the topic, but it is at our absolute discretion whether we publish a response, and we reserve the right to edit or remove responses before and after publication and also republish some or all in other BMJ publications, including third party local editions in other countries and languages
  • Our requirements are stated in our rapid response terms and conditions and must be read. These include ensuring that: i) you do not include any illustrative content including tables and graphs, ii) you do not include any information that includes specifics about any patients,iii) you do not include any original data, unless it has already been published in a peer reviewed journal and you have included a reference, iv) your response is lawful, not defamatory, original and accurate, v) you declare any competing interests, vi) you understand that your name and other personal details set out in our rapid response terms and conditions will be published with any responses we publish and vii) you understand that once a response is published, we may continue to publish your response and/or edit or remove it in the future.
  • By submitting this rapid response you are agreeing to our terms and conditions for rapid responses and understand that your personal data will be processed in accordance with those terms and our privacy notice.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Vertical Tabs

Other responses

Jump to comment:

  • Published on: 24 August 2022
    Re: Successful 10-second one-legged stance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals.
    • Andrew J Larner, Consultant Neurologist Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Liverpool, UK

    Dear Editor,

    Dr Araujo and colleagues have demonstrated the utility for mortality risk assessment of the 10-second one leg standing (10s-OLS) test,1 colloquially known as the “flamingo test” (although every amateur ornithologist will know that the 10s-OLS test posture, illustrated in Figure 1 of Araujo et al., is different from that adopted by a flamingo, and that many other birds adopt a single-legged stance when roosting). The 10s-OLS test is easily administered, safe, and simply categorised (binary yes/no), so should be easy to apply in clinical practice. Failure to achieve 10s-OLS (“NO 10s-OLS”) was found to be associated with patient age, high waist-height ratio, and prevalence of diabetes mellitus.

    Contrary to the view expressed by Dr Araujo and colleagues that "balance assessment is not routinely incorporated in the clinical examination",1 we suggest that most neurologists would include such an assessment in the neurological examination, particularly in older patients,2 and invariably if there is a complaint of imbalance or falling. Hence for neurologists, the findings of the study beg questions about underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Aside from speculating that "subclinical central or autonomic nervous system dysfunction" might contribute, the authors do not specifically address these issues, other than to indicate the exclusion from the study of patients with unstable gait or with signs of acute vestibular or otoneuro...

    Show More
    Conflict of Interest:
    None declared.