Objective To compare the screening ability of the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG),Berg Balance Scale (BBS),Single Leg Stance (SLS) and Brief-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Brief-BESTest) for fall risk in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),and to provide references for clinical selection of appropriate screening tools for balance function. Methods From February 2020 to February 2021,a total of 86 COPD patients hospitalized in the department of respiratory and critical care medicine of a tertiary hospital in Guangdong were selected by convenience sampling method. Their balance abilities were assessed using the TUG,BBS,SLS and Brief-BESTest. Taking 3-month history of falls as the diagnostic standard,the identification ability of the 4 scales for falls was compared by Bayes discriminant analysis and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results The cross-validation accuracy of TUG,BBS,SLS and Brief-BESTest were 60.47%,68.60%,51.16% and 72.09%. The Brief-BESTest showed the biggest area under ROC curve (0.818),compared with BBS (0.758),TUG (0.686) and SLS (0.568). At the cutoff score of 14,the Brief-BESTest demonstrated a positive test accuracy of 0.786 with the sensitivity of 0.739,the specificity of 0.825. Conclusion Among the 4 balance function tests,brief-BESTest was the best at screening a history of falls in COPD patients. Brief-BESTest was recommended for clinical staff to assess balance and predict fall risk in patients with COPD.