Validity of five times sit to stand test for the evaluation of risk of fall in community-dwelling older adults

Abstract

Introduction: Five Times Sit to Stand Test (FTSST) is a tool for measuring lower extremities strength, balance ability and fall risk. However, studies of the validity of FTSST in community-dwelling elders was limited. Objective: To investigate the predictive validity, concurrent validity and discriminative validity of FTSST for the risk of fall assessment in community-dwelling older. Materials and methods: The matched case-control study in 70 subjects, ≥60 years old, were divided into two groups: fall (n=35) and non-fall (n=35). All subjects were asked for baseline demographics and performed FTSST and timed up and go test (TUGT). The data obtained from this study were analyzed for predictive validity, concurrent validity, and compared to performed FTSST between fall and non-fall groups (discriminative validity). Results: Most of the subjects were female. ROC analysis indicated that time required to complete FTSST were ≥10.02 seconds, which indicated risk of fall in community-dwelling elders (sensitivity 68.57%, specificity 80.00%, area under ROC curve (AUC) 0.82; 95%CI=1.32-2.58). In addition, FTSST had strong correlation with TUGT (r=0.873; p<0.001) and subjects who experienced fall (fall group) required significantly longer time to complete FTSST than those of non-fall subjects (p=0.005). Conclusion: Finding of this study warrants validity of the FTSST and offer important quantitative criteria to monitor risk of fall in community-dwelling elders. Bull Chiang Mai Assoc Med Sci 2016; 49(2): 226-244. Doi: 10.14456/jams.2016.18

Keywords

• Elderly
• fall
• validity
• sit-to-stand test
• Physical Therapy