Physical-performance tests to evaluate mobility disability in community-dwelling elders.
The purposes of this study were to evaluate community-dwelling elderly adults with different levels of perceived mobility with 5 physical-performance tests, determine the cutoff values of the 5 tests, and identify the best tests for classifying mobility status. The community-mobility statuses of 203 community-dwelling elders were classified as able, decreased, or disabled based on their self-reported ability to walk several blocks and climb stairs. They also performed the functional reach, timed 50-ft walk, timed 5-step, timed floor transfer, and 5-min-walk endurance tests. We found in all tests that the "able" outperformed the "decreased" and that the "decreased" outperformed the "disabled," except on the floor-transfer task. The optimum cutoff values of the 5 performance tests were also reported. The 5-min walk and timed 5-step test could best separate the "able" from the "decreased," whereas the 50-ft-walk-test could best differentiate the "decreased" from the "disabled." The results suggest that community-mobility function of older adults can be captured by performance tests and that the cutoff values of the 5-min-walk, 5-step, and 50-ft-walk tests can be used in guiding intervention or prevention programs.
School of Physical Therapy, Texas Womans University, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Ching-Yi
CY
Wang
Sharon L
SL
Olson
Elizabeth J
EJ
Protas
D000368:Aged; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D010807:Physical Endurance; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis