Camara S1, Oliveira N1, Monteiro I1, Fernandes S1, Taurino Guedes D1, Nobre T1
1Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Faculty of Health Sciences of Trairi, Santa Cruz, Brazil
Background: Physiotherapists usually use several instruments to evaluate physical health of older people in research and clinical practice, including measures of mobility, performance in specific tasks, and physical activity levels. However, most instruments generally assess only one specific aspect of the older person's physical health, and there is often a need for a range of instruments to provide a comprehensive evaluation. Furthermore, instruments usually neglect the importance of environmental conditions on physical health. Using a core set of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to evaluate older adults' physical health, the practitioners and researchers may perform a multidimensional assessment with a unified and standardized language. However, to indicate its use in academic and clinical settings, it is important to confirm that this is a valid measure.
Purpose: To assess the construct validity of a proposed ICF core set to evaluate physical health in community-dwelling older adults.
Methods: We evaluated 101 older adults (≥60y) of both sexes in relation to measures usually associated to physical health, such as socioeconomic conditions, anthropometrics, chronic diseases, and depressive symptomatology. We also applied an ICF core set developed specifically to evaluate physical health of older adults, which contains 14 categories for body functions domain, 4 for body structures, 9 for activities and participation, and 3 for environmental factors. Participants reporting moderate or severe impairment in at least one category were classified as having impairment in the respective domain. Those with and without impairments in each domain were compared in relation to measures tipically related to physical health using Mann-Whitney or Chi-square tests. We considered a significance level of 5% and Confidence Intervals of 95% in all analyses.
Results: The proportion of participants identified with impairments in the body functions, body structures and activity and participation domains were 90.1%, 48.5%, and 89.1% respectively. Environmental barriers were found for 63.4% participants. Impairment in the body functions domain was associated with older ages (>80y) (p=0.02), higher number of chronic conditions (p 0.01), and poorer self-rated health (p 0.01). Moreover, impairments in the body function, body structure and activity and participation domains were associated to more depressive symptoms (p = 0.025, 0.001, 0.019, respectively). Barriers identified in the environmental factors domain were associated to abdominal obesity (p 0.001), higher proportion of depressive symptoms (p =0.038) and of chronic conditions (p 0.001).
Conclusion(s): The association between the proposed ICF core set domains and variables that are typically related with specific measures of physical health, such as the number of chronic diseases, depressive symptomatology, and self-reported health, confirms the construct validity of this instrument.
Implications: The ICF core set for older adults' physical health is a valid measure that provides a comprehensive and multidimensional evaluation, which can be applicable for clinical and academic activities. This instrument may help physiotherapists and gerontologists to identify older adults with impairments in physical health, to elaborate intervention strategies specific for this population, and to follow changes over the years.
Keywords: Aging, Functionality, Health evaluation
Funding acknowledgements: This work was unfunded.
Purpose: To assess the construct validity of a proposed ICF core set to evaluate physical health in community-dwelling older adults.
Methods: We evaluated 101 older adults (≥60y) of both sexes in relation to measures usually associated to physical health, such as socioeconomic conditions, anthropometrics, chronic diseases, and depressive symptomatology. We also applied an ICF core set developed specifically to evaluate physical health of older adults, which contains 14 categories for body functions domain, 4 for body structures, 9 for activities and participation, and 3 for environmental factors. Participants reporting moderate or severe impairment in at least one category were classified as having impairment in the respective domain. Those with and without impairments in each domain were compared in relation to measures tipically related to physical health using Mann-Whitney or Chi-square tests. We considered a significance level of 5% and Confidence Intervals of 95% in all analyses.
Results: The proportion of participants identified with impairments in the body functions, body structures and activity and participation domains were 90.1%, 48.5%, and 89.1% respectively. Environmental barriers were found for 63.4% participants. Impairment in the body functions domain was associated with older ages (>80y) (p=0.02), higher number of chronic conditions (p 0.01), and poorer self-rated health (p 0.01). Moreover, impairments in the body function, body structure and activity and participation domains were associated to more depressive symptoms (p = 0.025, 0.001, 0.019, respectively). Barriers identified in the environmental factors domain were associated to abdominal obesity (p 0.001), higher proportion of depressive symptoms (p =0.038) and of chronic conditions (p 0.001).
Conclusion(s): The association between the proposed ICF core set domains and variables that are typically related with specific measures of physical health, such as the number of chronic diseases, depressive symptomatology, and self-reported health, confirms the construct validity of this instrument.
Implications: The ICF core set for older adults' physical health is a valid measure that provides a comprehensive and multidimensional evaluation, which can be applicable for clinical and academic activities. This instrument may help physiotherapists and gerontologists to identify older adults with impairments in physical health, to elaborate intervention strategies specific for this population, and to follow changes over the years.
Keywords: Aging, Functionality, Health evaluation
Funding acknowledgements: This work was unfunded.
Topic: Older people
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
Ethics committee: Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences of Trairi
Ethics number: 2295402
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
