RELIABILITY OF THE TIMED UP AND GO TEST IN DETERMINING FALL RISK IN PATIENTS AND ADULTS OF THE HOSPITAL MILITAR CENTRAL

• DOI: 10.37572/EdArt_09122574112

• Palavras-chave: Timed Up and Go Test; Intra-rater Reliability; Inter-rater Reliability; Older Adult.

• Keywords: Timed Up and Go Test; Intra-rater Reliability; Inter-rater Reliability; Older Adult.

• Abstract:

  Demographic changes have shown that the older adult population has been growing nationally and globally, increasing the odds of falling in this vulnerable population, particularly for in-hospital patients. The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test assesses functional performance and risk of falling in adults and older adults with a high level of sensitivity and specificity. However, no evidence of this reliability has been reported in the Colombian population. GOAL: Determine the inter- and intra-rater reliability of the TUG test in adult and older adult hospitalized populations in a Colombian institution. Method: The study involved 132 hospitalized adult patients with ages averaging between 40–80 years. All participants were interviewed for the registration of their sociodemographic and health conditions and the fulfillment of the inclusion criteria and were asked to sign an informed consent. A test-retest was conducted for the administration of the TUG two different times for each participant, with an hour difference between the two assessment moments, and the test results were recorded independently. None of the physiotherapist researchers who had access to the patients had knowledge of the test results as registered by the peer. The data were systematized in a database, and an analysis of Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient was performed between measures. Results: Inter- and intra-rater reliability for the TUG test for the 132 hospitalized patients was determined by three trained physiotherapists who had 15–25 years of experience. It was performed at two different times, in which the physiotherapists took on the roles of leader and observer of the records for each of the patients. Spearman’s Rho coefficients were 0.67 for intra-rater tests and 0.97-0.98 for inter-rater tests. Lin rho Pearson coefficients oscillated between 0.978–0.987 (Bland & Altman, 1986). Conclusions: High inter- and intra-rater reliability was found for the TUG test in adult hospitalized Colombian patients.