PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE-MEASURES FOR CHARACTERIZING HIGH-FUNCTIONING OLDER PERSONS

The goal of this study was to identify methods for characterizing high -functioning older adults living in the community. The subjects were 4 95 older adults from the Longitudinal Interdisciplinary Study on Aging conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. Physica l performance measures included grip strength, walking at preferred an d maximum speeds, one-leg standing with eyes open, and finger tapping rate. Performance scores were created by summing each categorical scor e. Consistent differences were found among age groups and genders. Sco res were lower in subjects who had stroke or diabetes than in those wi thout these conditions. These results suggest that physical performanc e measures have both discriminant validity and construct validity, whi ch make them useful methods for characterizing high-functioning older persons.