Reliability, measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures: a cohort study of community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in Ireland

Objective To estimate the effects of repeat assessments, rater and time of day on mobility measures and to estimate their variation between and within participants in a population-based sample of Irish adults aged ≥50 years.Design Test–retest study in a population representative sample.Setting Acade...

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Main Authors: George M Savva, Orna A Donoghue, Axel Börsch-Supan, Rose Anne Kenny
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2019-11-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/11/e030475.full
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author George M Savva
Orna A Donoghue
Axel Börsch-Supan
Rose Anne Kenny
author_facet George M Savva
Orna A Donoghue
Axel Börsch-Supan
Rose Anne Kenny
author_sort George M Savva
collection DOAJ
description Objective To estimate the effects of repeat assessments, rater and time of day on mobility measures and to estimate their variation between and within participants in a population-based sample of Irish adults aged ≥50 years.Design Test–retest study in a population representative sample.Setting Academic health assessment centre of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).Participants 128 community-dwelling adults from the Survey for Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Ireland study who agreed to take part in the SHARE-Ireland/TILDA collaboration.Interventions Not applicable.Outcome measures Participants performed timed up-and-go (TUG), repeated chair stands (RCS) and walking speed tests administered by one of two raters. Repeat assessments were conducted 1–4 months later. Participants were randomised with respect to a change in time (morning, afternoon) and whether the rater was changed between assessments. Within and between-participant variance for each measure was estimated using mixed-effects models. Intraclass correlation (ICC), SE of measurement and minimum detectable change (MDC) were reported.Results Average performance did not vary between baseline and repeat assessments in any test, except RCS. The rater significantly affected performance on all tests except one, but time of day did not. Reliability varied from ICC=0.66 (RCS) to ICC=0.88 (usual gait speed). MDC was 2.08 s for TUG, 4.52 s for RCS and ranged from 19.49 to 34.73 cm/s for walking speed tests. There was no evidence for lower reliability of gait parameters with increasing time between assessments.Conclusions Reliability varied for each test when measurements are obtained over 1–4 months with most variation due to rater effects. Usual and motor dual task gait speed demonstrated highest reliability.
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spelling doaj-art-44836d93340c4d92b0bcdd6a0731d1932025-08-20T02:07:01ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552019-11-0191110.1136/bmjopen-2019-030475Reliability, measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures: a cohort study of community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in IrelandGeorge M Savva0Orna A Donoghue1Axel Börsch-Supan2Rose Anne Kenny32 Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, UK1 The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), University of Dublin Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland3 Munich Center for the Economics of Aging, Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy, Munchen, GermanyMercers Institute for Ageing and Trinity College Institute of Neurosciences, Trinity College, Dublin, IrelandObjective To estimate the effects of repeat assessments, rater and time of day on mobility measures and to estimate their variation between and within participants in a population-based sample of Irish adults aged ≥50 years.Design Test–retest study in a population representative sample.Setting Academic health assessment centre of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).Participants 128 community-dwelling adults from the Survey for Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) Ireland study who agreed to take part in the SHARE-Ireland/TILDA collaboration.Interventions Not applicable.Outcome measures Participants performed timed up-and-go (TUG), repeated chair stands (RCS) and walking speed tests administered by one of two raters. Repeat assessments were conducted 1–4 months later. Participants were randomised with respect to a change in time (morning, afternoon) and whether the rater was changed between assessments. Within and between-participant variance for each measure was estimated using mixed-effects models. Intraclass correlation (ICC), SE of measurement and minimum detectable change (MDC) were reported.Results Average performance did not vary between baseline and repeat assessments in any test, except RCS. The rater significantly affected performance on all tests except one, but time of day did not. Reliability varied from ICC=0.66 (RCS) to ICC=0.88 (usual gait speed). MDC was 2.08 s for TUG, 4.52 s for RCS and ranged from 19.49 to 34.73 cm/s for walking speed tests. There was no evidence for lower reliability of gait parameters with increasing time between assessments.Conclusions Reliability varied for each test when measurements are obtained over 1–4 months with most variation due to rater effects. Usual and motor dual task gait speed demonstrated highest reliability.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/11/e030475.full
spellingShingle George M Savva
Orna A Donoghue
Axel Börsch-Supan
Rose Anne Kenny
Reliability, measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures: a cohort study of community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in Ireland
BMJ Open
title Reliability, measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures: a cohort study of community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in Ireland
title_full Reliability, measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures: a cohort study of community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in Ireland
title_fullStr Reliability, measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures: a cohort study of community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in Ireland
title_full_unstemmed Reliability, measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures: a cohort study of community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in Ireland
title_short Reliability, measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures: a cohort study of community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in Ireland
title_sort reliability measurement error and minimum detectable change in mobility measures a cohort study of community dwelling adults aged 50 years and over in ireland
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/11/e030475.full
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