VALIDITY OF THE PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY SCALE FOR THE ELDERLY (PASE) - ACCORDING TO ENERGY-EXPENDITURE ASSESSED BY THE DOUBLY LABELED WATER METHOD

The study investigates the validity of the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) in 21 Dutch elderly men and women. The PASE is an easily scored, brief questionnaire for elderly, suitable for large epi demiologic studies. The PASE score was compared with physical activity measured with the doubly labeled water method. The correlation coeffi cient of the PASE score with the residuals from the regression analysi s using total energy expenditure as dependent and resting metabolic ra te as independent Variate was 0.58 (95% CI = 0.50-0.81). Women had gre ater engagement in extremely high scoring activities as housework and taking care of others, resulting in higher PASE scores than men (97.9 and 71.9). The higher scores in women were not linked to higher activi ty levels, which suggests that the mentioned activities may be overval ued. Sex specific correlation coefficients were 0.79 (CI = 0.32-0.95) and 0.68 (CI = 0.15-0.90) for men and women, respectively. In conclusi on, the PASE proved to be a reasonable valid method to classify health y elderly men and women into categories of physical activity. Some pos sible refinements were suggested, which may improve the accuracy of th e PASE questionnaire. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.