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Measures of functional status in community-dwelling elders

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate two performance-based measures of functional status and assess their correlation with self-report measures.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.

PARTICIPANTS: Of the 363 community-dwelling elders enrolled in a trial of comprehensive geriatric assessment who participated, all had at least one of four target conditions (urinary incontinence, depression, impaired functional status, or history of falling).

MEASUREMENTS: Two performance-based measures, National Institute on Aging (NIA) Battery, and Physical Performance Test (PPT), and three self-report functional status measures, basic and intermediate activities of daily living and the Short-Form-36 (SF-36) physical functioning subscale, were used. Measures of restricted activity days, patient satisfaction and perceived efficacy were also used.

MAIN RESULTS: All measures were internally consistent. There was a high correlation between the NIA and PPT (κ=0.71), while correlations between the performance-based and self-report measures ranged from 0.37 to 0.50. When patients with values above the median on the two performance-based measures were compared with those below, there were significant differences (p ≤ .0001) for age, number of medications, and the physical function, pain, general health, and physical role function SF-36 subscales.

CONCLUSIONS: Performance-based measures correlated highly with each other and moderately with questionnaire-based measures. Performance-based measures also had construct validity and did not suffer from floor or ceiling effects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, the Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology, UCLA School of Medicine, Sepulveda, Calif.

    Scott E. Sherman MD, MPH & David Reuben MD

  2. West Los Angeles, Calif.

    Scott E. Sherman MD, MPH & David Reuben MD

Authors
  1. Scott E. Sherman MD, MPH
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  2. David Reuben MD
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Additional information

Dr. Sherman has received a Career Development Award from the Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, National Institute on Aging grant 5P60AG10415.

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Sherman, S.E., Reuben, D. Measures of functional status in community-dwelling elders. J GEN INTERN MED 13, 817–823 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.1998.00245.x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.1998.00245.x

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