title: Identification of stair climbing ability levels in community-dwelling older adults based on the geometric mean of stair ascent and descent speed: The GeMSS classifier.
abstract: The aim was to develop a quantitative approach to identify three stair-climbing ability levels of older adults: no, somewhat and considerable difficulty. Timed-up-and-go test, six-minute-walk test, and Berg balance scale were used for statistical comparison to a new stair climbing ability classifier based on the geometric mean of stair speeds (GeMSS) in ascent and descent on a flight of eight stairs with a 28° pitch in the housing unit where the participants, 28 (16 women) urban older adults (62-94 years), lived. Ordinal logistic regression revealed the thresholds between the three ability levels for each functional test were more stringent than thresholds found in the literature to classify walking ability levels. Though a small study, the intermediate classifier shows promise of early identification of difficulties with stairs, in order to make timely preventative interventions. Further studies are necessary to obtain scaling factors for stairs with other pitches.
authors.affiliation: Division of Health and Social Care Research, King's College London, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Ruth.Mayagoitia-Hill@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ruth E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Mayagoitia
authors.affiliation: Harding Innovation and Design, 50 Hugh Squier Avenue, South Molton, Devon EX36 3DR, United Kingdom. Electronic address: enquiries@energyathomesw.co.uk.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harding
authors.affiliation: Division of Health and Social Care Research, King's College London, Guy's Campus, London SE1 1UL, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Sheila.Kitchen@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitchen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D004856:Postural Balance; D000072799:Stair Climbing; D016138:Walking
keywords: Balance; Endurance; Strength; Timed-up-and-down-stairs