Original articleValidity of 3 Physical Performance Measures in Inpatient Geriatric Rehabilitation
Section snippets
Sample
Patients admitted to 1 of 3 inpatient geriatric rehabilitation programs were recruited for the study. The 3 programs were comparable in terms of the admission criteria for the patients (ie, degree of impairment), goals for mobility and functional improvement, and the program characteristics (eg, staff composition, amount of rehabilitation provided, average length of stay). Study inclusion criteria were the ability to ambulate a few meters without physical assistance and to perform at least 1 of
Sample
A total of 52 individuals participated in the study, including 35 (67%) women and 17 (33%) men. Before admission to the hospital, 86% lived at home and 12% lived in a retirement home; none lived in a nursing home. At discharge, 69% went to a private residence, 19% to a retirement home, and 4% to a nursing home. A total of 12 (23%) subjects experienced a change in residence after discharge. Other demographic characteristics are presented in table 1. The most common primary diagnoses were
Discussion
In the absence of strong evidence supporting the use of different physical performance measures for geriatric rehabilitation populations, the choice of which tests to use as outcome measures in geriatric rehabilitation remains a matter of clinical judgment. In this study, we examined aspects of construct validity and responsiveness of 3 physical performance measures in inpatient geriatric rehabilitation settings because the literature on the measurement properties of these measures is
Conclusions
The TUG test and 2MWT reflected ambulatory and functional status and showed good responsiveness, with the TUG being the most responsive measure. The functional reach was the least responsive, was less consistently correlated with functional status, and did not discriminate between different levels of ambulatory status. Additional studies are needed to further examine the predictive validity of physical performance measures and their usefulness for outcomes evaluation in frail elderly
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the following people for their assistance with data collection and subject recruitment: Kathy Scott, Sara Sharp, Carol Fancott, Adrianna Ventutinni, Theresa Yeung, Jan Goldstein, and the staff of the Inpatient Geriatric Rehabilitation Unit.
References (23)
- et al.
A qualitative systematic overview of the measurement properties of functional walk tests used in the cardiorespiratory domain
Chest
(2001) - et al.
Evaluating changes in health statusreliability and responsiveness of five generic health status measures in workers with musculoskeletal disorders
J Clin Epidemiol
(1997) - et al.
The 2-minute walk test as a measure of function in persons with lower limb amputation
Arch Phys Med Rehabil
(2001) - et al.
Validity and reliability comparison of 4 mobility measures in patients presenting with neurological impairment
Arch Phys Med Rehabil
(2001) - et al.
Lower-extremity function in persons over the age of 70 years as predictor of subsequent disability
N Engl J Med
(1995) - et al.
Self-paced walking as a method for exercise testing in elderly and young men
Clin Sci Mol Med Suppl
(1976) - et al.
The timed “Up & Go”a test of basic functional mobility for frail elderly persons
J Am Geriatr Soc
(1991) - et al.
Functional reacha marker of physical frailty
J Am Geriatr Soc
(1991) - et al.
Making geriatric assessment workselecting useful measures
Phys Ther
(2001) - et al.
Impairments in physical performance and cognitive status as predisposing factors for functional dependence among non-disabled older persons
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
(1996)
Risk factors for falls among elderly persons living in the community
N Engl J Med
Cited by (0)
Supported by the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and Collaborative Research Program, Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care, the Canadian Institute for Health Research (New Investigator Awards), and the Mary Trimmer Chair in Geriatric Medicine Research, University of Toronto.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the author(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.