title: Reliability of 4-m and 6-m walking speed tests in elderly people with cognitive impairment.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the interrater and test-retest reliability of 4-m and 6-m walking speed tests in elderly people with cognitive impairment. 50 subjects aged 65 and over with cognitive impairment were selected from an adult day-care centre and a nursing home. To examine interrater reliability, 21 people were evaluated independently by two researchers who administered the 4-m and 6-m walking tests in each evaluation. For test-retest reliability, two observers administered the tests to the same 29 subjects, with a time interval of one week. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated to examine interrater and test-retest reliability. The ICCs for interrater reliability reached values of 0.96 and 0.88 for the 4-m and 6-m walking tests, respectively. In the test-retest study, the time interval was 7.4±1.17 days. The ICCs were 0.91 for the 4-m test and 0.86 for the 6-m test. The results support the use of walking tests in elderly people with cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, University of Alicante, Carretera de San Vicente s/n 03690 (San Vicente del Raspeig), Alicante, Spain. carmen.munoz@ua.es
authors.forename: Carmen L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Mendoza
authors.forename: M Jose
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cabañero-Martínez
authors.forename: Jose C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Millán-Calenti
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cabrero-García
authors.forename: Rosalía
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: López-Sánchez
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maseda-Rodríguez
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016138:Walking