Open AccessMeasures of Functional Status in Community‐Dwelling Elders
Author(s) -
Sherman Scott E.,
Reuben David
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of general internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.746
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 1525-1497
pISSN - 0884-8734
DOI - 10.1046/j.1525-1497.1998.00245.x
Subject(s) - medicine , ceiling effect , activities of daily living , gerontology , physical therapy , depression (economics) , urinary incontinence , alternative medicine , pathology , economics , urology , macroeconomics
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.