ASSESSMENT OF FUNCTIONAL ABILITY WITH THE BED RISE DIFFICULTY SCALE IN A GROUP OF ELDERLY PATIENTS

The aim of the study (part of the Progetto Longitudinale Gussago) was to evaluate the variables related to the difficulty in rising from a b ed in 2 groups of elderly patients: nursing home residents, and patien ts admitted to a geriatric evaluation and management unit. Functional ability was tested through the bed rise difficulty scale (BRD). The ve rsion used in this study considered only those 7 items (out of 12) fou nd to be of value. Only those patients who were able to rise from bed without help were selected in order to achieve the aim of the study (3 3 males, 113 females; mean age 79.6 +/- 7.3 years). Although the 146 p atients assessed were considered as having a good functional level (Ti netti score 18.8 +/- 6.9, ADL Katz score 1.6 +/- 1.4), most of them ha d high scores on the BRD scale, indicating the ability of this scale t o detect early, mild disability. The total score of the BRD scale was significantly related to the ADL Katz (r = 0.29, p = 0.000), Tinetti s cale (r = -0.39, p = 0.000) and physical performance test (PTT; r = -0 .47, p = 0.000). Similar results were obtained for the correlation bet ween BRD time and ADL Katz (r = 0.033, p = 0.000), Tinetti scale (r = -0.30, p = 0.000) and PPT (r = -0.46, p = 0.000). In a logistic regres sion analysis the items of the PPT scale considering upper extremity f unction and Tinetti balance score were significantly associated with t he total bed rise time and score.