Timed up and go test and self-perceived health in elderly: population-based study

Abstract

Due to the aging process, chronic diseases arise with increased use of medications and there is a need to evaluate the elderly to prevent functional dependence and falls. The aim of this study was to compare gender, sociodemographic characteristics, fall occurrences, self-reported diseases, quantity of drugs with timed up and go test (TUG) and TUG-cognitive, and to associate these factors with the self-perception of health of the elderly in the community. Were selected 513 elderly people, with 384 that completed the TUG test to evaluate the functional capacity. There was difference between the female and male, in the variables: age-group 70 to 79 years (p=0.036) ≥ 80 years (p=0.013); per capita income in the female ≤ 1 minimum wage (p=0.005) and >2 (p=0.013), falls (p=0.001), systemic hypertension (p<0.001), arthritis or rheumatism (p=0.033), depression (p=0.048), osteoporosis (p<0.001), medications 3 to 4 (p=0.008), self-perceived health (p=0.030) and in the TUG (p<0.001) and TUG-cognitive (p=0.002). The prevalence by Poisson regression Robust (RPa), the variables associated with health self-perceived: heart disease (p=0,047), stroke (p=<0,001), osteoporosis (p=0,013) and TUG motor (p=0,028). Women had more health problems, weakness and poor physical performance, indicating the need for special attention as the aging aspects. So, TUG test can be useful tool for risk evaluate of falls in the elderly living in the community.

Analysis of the association between hand grip strength and functionality in community elderly

“…In the study by Rodrigues et al 34 , a time of up to 10 seconds was pointed out, being considered normal, from 10.01 to 20 seconds representing impaired performance and above 20.01 seconds a higher risk of falls in the elderly, another measure of TUG was also suggested, taking into account age stratification.…”

“…Regarding TUG, the time measurement found in the study was 6.89s (± 1.6). In the study by Rodrigues et al 34 , a time of up to 10 seconds was pointed out, being considered normal, from 10.01 to 20 seconds representing impaired performance and above 20.01 seconds a higher risk of falls in the elderly, another measure of TUG was also suggested, taking into account age stratification. According to Zazá et al 35 , it was verified that the performance of elderly people considered healthy and physically active does not differ from the reference values suggested for the TUG test.…”

Análise da associação entre força de preensão manual e funcionalidade em pessoas idosas da comunidade

“…The present study with healthy old people compared to cutoff points already established in the literature showed that the mean values of HGS 30.22 Kgf (±8.36) and physical ability tests 6MWT 455.17m (±90.41) and TUG 6.89s (±1.6) were considered relatively high for this population [30][31][32] . This is probably due to the significant number of old people in the study participating in social activities -26 (72.22%) -and having some occupation -21 (58.33%) -, which can indirectly predict greater physical capacity, thus increasing the HGS and test performance.…”

The Relationship between Health Perception and Health Predictors among the Elderly across European Countries

“…Nevertheless, males and females report different health perceptions and, thus, QoL. For instance, elderly women had 25% more complaints of bad or very poor QoL when compared to elderly men [5]. Such sex-based differences were also observed with the finding that older-aged men are more susceptible to environmental factors than women [6], and higher levels of physical fitness were found to better contribute to a higher assessment of the QoL and health of men than women.…”

“…Lower extremity performance is associated with strength, but also with balance, mobility, and fall risk among the elderly and people with pathologies (i.e., Parkinson's disease, post-stroke patients, cardiovascular incidents) and can be determined through time in an Up and Go test (TUG) [35,36]. In some studies, TUG was shown to be an efficient test in the prediction of falls among the elderly, as a direct relationship was observed between the occurrence of falls in the elderly and their classifications according to the test [5,37]. However, those studies also found that the mean TUG value for elderly females was statistically higher than those of the male group [5].…”