Objectives: (1) To assess the test-retest reliability of physical performan
ce tests in subject groups with different levels of impairment and disabili
ty, and (2) to assess the stability of these tests over different time inte
rvals.
Design: Test-retest, repeated measures reliability design.
Setting: (1) A university's center for aging and research center, (2) a con
tinuing care retirement community, and (3) an extended care and rehabilitat
ion center at a Veterans Affairs medical center.
Subjects: Twenty-four community-dwelling elders, 15 community-dwelling elde
rs with Parkinson disease, 12 older women with vertebral osteoporosis and c
ompression fractures, and 14 elderly nursing home residents.
Measures: Lower extremity isometric strength (ankle dorsiflexion, hip abduc
tion), spinal configuration (thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis), lumbosacr
al motion (flexion, extension), and timed measures of the ability to get in
and to get out of bed at a usual pace.
Results: Most of the within-group intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs
) were good to excellent (.70 to .97). Overall, ICCs for all groups combine
d were between .70 and .96, and no decrement in reliability was noted after
controlling for group membership. In addition, no decrement in the ICC was
observed for short (1 day) vs longer (1 week) intervals of testing.
Conclusions: These performance-based measures may be used reliably across a
wider range of testing environments and elderly populations than has been
reported. (C) 1999 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and
the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.