title: Added value of physical performance measures in predicting adverse health-related events: results from the Health, Aging And Body Composition Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine how three different physical performance measures (PPMs) combine for added utility in predicting adverse health events in elders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health, Aging and Body Composition Study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three thousand twenty-four well-functioning older persons (mean age 73.6).
  
  
  METHODS
  Timed gait, repeated chair stands, and balance (semi- and full-tandem, and single leg stands each held for 30 seconds) tests were administered at baseline. Usual gait speed was categorized to distinguish high- and low-risk participants using the previously established 1-m/s cutpoint. The same population-percentile (21.3%) was used to identify cutpoints for the repeated chair stands (17.1 seconds) and balance (53.0 seconds) tests. Cox proportional hazard analyses were performed to evaluate the added value of PPMs in predicting mortality, hospitalization, and (severe) mobility limitation events over 6.9 years of follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Risk estimates for developing adverse health-related events were similarly large for each of the three high-risk groups considered separately. Having more PPM scores at the high-risk level was associated with a greater risk of developing adverse health-related events. When all three PPMs were considered, having only one poor performance was sufficient to indicate a highly significantly higher risk of (severe) lower extremity and mortality events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although gait speed is considered to be the most important predictor of adverse health events, these findings demonstrate that poor performance on other tests of lower extremity function are equally prognostic. This suggests that chair stand and standing balance performance may be adequate substitutes when gait speed is unavailable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aging and Geriatric Reseach, Institute on Aging, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611, USA. macesari@gmail.com
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cesari
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Kritchevsky
authors.forename: Anne B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Eleanor M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Simonsick
authors.forename: Tamara B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Brenda W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Penninx
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Brach
authors.forename: Frances A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Tylavsky
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Satterfield
authors.forename: Doug C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Marjolein
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Visser
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pahor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D009026:Mortality; D009043:Motor Activity; D004856:Postural Balance / Q000502:physiology; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity