Discrimination of Health Status Based on Physical Fitness in Community-dwelling and Frail Elderly

In the progress of elderly society, it is important to live an independent life. However, in recent years the number of people who need care increases rapidly in Japan. Therefore, it is necessary to reveal physical fitness level which can live an independent life. However, researches that indicate the boundary between community-dwelling and frail elderly were not conducted enough. PURPOSE:The purpose of this study was to derive discriminant coefficient from physical fitness test results in community-dwelling and frail elderly. METHODS: The subjects were 110 older adult (78.5+/-5.7yrs). The subjects were divided into two groups: 47 community-dwelling older adults (75.3+/-4.5yrs) who could move freely without any walking devices and 63 frail elderly (80.9+/-5.3yrs) who need support or care. All subjects participated in a 8-item test battery of physical performance; functional reach (FR), grip strength (G), tandem (Ta), one leg balance with eyes open (LB-O), 30-sec chair stand test (30-C), timed up&go (U&G), 10m maximal walking time (10m-W) and maximal step (MS). It was stepwise discriminant analysis that analysis method used to calculate discriminant coefficient. RESULTS: As the results of stepwise discriminant analysis, three-item test (30-C, 10m-W, G) were extracted. Discriminant coefficient was as follows: z=0.124× (30-C)-0.215× (10m-W) +0.065× (G)-1.752. The discriminant had a discrimination rate of 91.5%. Each value, distinguish community-dwelling from frail elderly, were 30-C (16 times), 10m-W (7.1 sec) and G (20 kg). CONCLUSIONS: These results showed physical fitness level which would live an independent life, suggested that would become the goal of rehabilitation for frail elderly.