ABSTRACT
Physical performance measures, such as gait speed, one-legged stance and hand-grip strength, are known as assessment measures of motor function and predictors for adverse health outcomes, and widely used for assessing motor function in preventive programs for long-term care or screening of frail elderly. However, there is no standard assessment sheet for feedback of the results. In the present study, an assessment sheet on physical performance measures for community-dwelling older adults was developed. A pooled analysis of data from six cohort studies, including urban and rural areas was conducted as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Study on Aging. The pooled analysis included cross-sectional data from 4683 nondisabled, community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older. Quintiles were derived according to age and sex group for six physical performance measures, i.e., hand-grip strength, one-legged stance, and gait speed and step length at both usual and maximum paces. The assessment sheets, which indicated the physical performance level according to age and sex, were developed by fitting third order polynomial curves to the data. The reference values in the present assessment sheet were considered to be derived from better represented community-dwelling older adults by using more large-scale population-based cohort data than that in the previous study. The assessment sheet should be useful for feeding back results on physical performance measures to elderly individuals and help them better understand their own physical performance levels.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study was done to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Kaigo-Yobo (K-Y) checklist in the Korean elderly population. METHODS: The study population included 283 men and women over 65 years who visited the three community senior's welfare centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi province from March 29, 2011 to May 26, 2011. The Korean frailty index (FI), Japanese K-Y checklist, Cardiovascular Health Study frailty index (CHSFI), activities of daily living, and Korean Mini-Mental Status Examination were completed for each participant. Reliability was tested by internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), as was the test-retest reliability, at a 2-week interval. Validity was tested by the area under the curve (AUC) from the receiver operating characteristics curve as a predictor of frailty according to the CHS criteria and the validity index estimated by the reliability index. RESULTS: The correlation coefficients between Korean FI and K-Y checklist, Korean FI and CHSFI, and K-Y checklist and CHSFI were 0.61, 0.43, and 0.44 respectively. The range of Kappa value for each item on the Korean FI was 0.28 to 0.60 and 0.19 to 0.65 for the K-Y checklist. Cronbach's alpha for the Korean FI was 0.58 and 0.64 for the K-Y checklist. The AUC for the Korean FI was 0.79, and 0.64 for the K-Y checklist. The validity index for the items on the Korean FI ranged from 0.28-0.53 to 0.60-0.78 and 0.19-0.44 to 0.65-0.81 for the K-Y checklist. CONCLUSION: The K-Y checklist is a valid and reliable instrument to measure frailty in the Korean elderly population. Follow-up studies are needed.