Reliability of Gait Performance Tests in Individuals With Late Effects of Polio
Received 26 October 2009; accepted 12 December 2009.
Objective
To assess the reliability of 4 gait performance tests in individuals with late effects of polio.
Design
An intrarater (between occasions) test-retest reliability study.
Settings
University hospital.
Participants
Thirty men and women (mean age 63 ± 6.4 years) with clinically and electrophysiologically verified late effects of polio.
Intervention
Not applicable.
Main outcome measures
The Timed “Up & Go” test, the Comfortable and the Fast Gait Speed tests, and the 6-Minute Walk test were assessed 7 days apart. Reliability was evaluated with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC2,1), the mean difference between the test sessions (d̄), and the 95% confidence intervals for d̄, the standard error of measurement (SEM and SEM%), the smallest real difference (SRD and SRD%) and the Bland & Altman graphs.
Results
Test-retest agreements were high (ICC2,1 0.82−0.97) and measurement errors generally small. The standard error of measurement (SEM%), representing the smallest change that indicates a real (clinical) improvement for a group of individuals, was small (4%−7%). The smallest real difference (SRD%), representing the smallest change that indicates a real (clinical) improvement for a single individual also was small (12%−21%).
Conclusion
These commonly used gait performance tests are highly reliable and can be recommended to evaluate improvements in various aspects of gait performance in groups of individuals as well as single individuals with late effects of polio.
aDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Division of Rehabilitation Medicine, Lund, Sweden; Lund University and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Skåne, Sweden; University Hospital, Lund, Orupssjukhuset, 221 85 Lund, Sweden⁎
bDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Division of Rehabilitation Medicine, Lund, Sweden; Lund University and Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Skåne, Sweden; University Hospital, Lund, Orupssjukhuset, 221 85 Lund, Sweden†
Address correspondence to U.-B.F.
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The study was prepared within the context of the Centre for Ageing and Supportive Environments (CASE) at Lund University, funded by the Swedish Research Council on Social Science and Working Life, and had received financial support from the Swedish Association of Survivors of Traffic Accidents and Polio (RTP), the Alfred Österlunds Stiftelse, Stiftelsen för bistånd åt rörelsehindrade i Skåne and Skane county council's research and development foundation.
ABSTRACT