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Development of a physical function outcome measure to harmonize comparisons between three Asian adult populations

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to use modern measurement techniques and create a precise functional status metric for Asian adults.

Methods

The study subjects included Asian American adults from the 2012 Health and Retirement Study (n = 211), Chinese adults in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (n = 13,649), and Korean adults in the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (n = 7,486). The Rasch common-item equating method with nine self-care and mobility items from the three databases were used to create a physical function measure across the three Asian adult populations.

Results

The created physical function measure included 23 self-care and mobility tasks and demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties (unidimensional, local independence, no misfit, no differential item functioning). A significant group difference in the estimated physical function across the three Asian adult populations (\({F}_{\mathrm{2,21242}}\) = 445.21, p < 0.0001) was identified. The American Asian adults (5.16 logits) had better physical function compared to the Chinese (4.15 logits) and Korean adults (3.32 logits).

Conclusion

Since the outcome measure was calibrated with the population-representative Asian samples, this derived physical function measure can be used for cross-national comparisons between the three countries. Using this precise functional status metric can help to identify factors that influence health outcomes in other Asian countries (China and Korea). This has the potential to generate numerous benefits, such as international disability monitoring and health-related policy development, improved shared decision making, and international syntheses of research findings.

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Data Availability

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS), China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), and Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging are public use and available at https://hrs.isr.umich.edu, http://charls.pku.edu.cn/index/en.html, and https://survey.keis.or.kr/eng/klosa/klosa01.jsp.

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Acknowledgements

We thank for Kenneth Ottenbacher, PhD, OTR (University of Texas Medical Branch) and Rebeca Wong, PhD (University of Texas Medical Branch) and Timothy A. Restarter, PhD, OTR (University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio) for serving as mentors on this study. Sarah Toombs Smith, PhD, ELS (University of Texas Medical Branch) provided assistance in proofreading and editing the manuscript. John Michael Linacre, PhD (Research Director, Winsteps.com) provided technical supports. The authors would like to thank other members of the research team for their efforts, including Ms. Suyeong Bae and Mr. Sanghun Nam.

Funding

This research was supported in part by Grant # K12 HD055929 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Grant # P30-AG024832 from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Claude D. Pepper Older American Independence Centers (OAICS). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH nor UTMB Claude D. Pepper OAICS. This research was also supported by the BK21 FOUR (Fostering Outstanding Universities for Research) funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of the Republic of Korea and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (Big Data Specialized Education and Research Team for Cognitive Health and Social Integration of Community-Dwelling Older Adults). The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA U01AG009740) and the Social Security Administration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Software and Digital Healthcare Convergence, Yonsei University, 135 Backun hall, 1 Yeonsedae-gil, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, 26493, Republic of Korea

    Ickpyo Hong

  2. Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, 77555, USA

    Kimberly P. Hreha & Mi Jung Lee

  3. Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, 77555, USA

    Claudia L. Hilton

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  1. Ickpyo Hong
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Correspondence to Ickpyo Hong.

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Hong, I., Hreha, K.P., Hilton, C.L. et al. Development of a physical function outcome measure to harmonize comparisons between three Asian adult populations. Qual Life Res 31, 281–291 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-021-02909-y

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