A Pilot Study for Reliability and Validity of Mini-Physical Performance Test for Chinese Male Elders

SummaryBackground and purposePhysical frailty may predict many adverse events, and it is important to identify a stable and easy clinical measurement to assess physical function for Chinese elders.MethodsWe modified the mini-Physical Performance Test (PPT) of Wilkins et al by adding one-leg standing test and simulating the 15 meters timed walk with a 6 meters timed walk to construct the Chinese version mini-PPT (CM-PPT). A total of 170 elderly individuals were tested by CM-PPT and mini-mental state examination (MMSE). Twenty-three randomly chosen individuals were tested again by the same rater and another rater in a week, and the 15 meters timed walk and the Barthel index (BI) were also evaluated.ResultsThe Cronbach’s coefficient of CM-PPT was 0.868, and the test–retest and inter-rater reliability were 0.96 and 0.99, respectively (p < 0.001). When the diseases influencing PPT other than cognitive disorders were excluded, CM-PPT was associated with MMSE (r = 0.420, p < 0.01) and age (r = −0.649, p < 0.001) in 47 participants. CM-PPT was also correlated with BI (r = 0.667, p < 0.001), while 65% of the participants acquired full marks for BI and only 9% of the participants did so for CM-PPT. Of the 170 participants, 31 had different results between tandem and one-leg positions (p < 0.001). Of these participants, 90% were only able to do tandem position and 10% were only able to do one-leg position. There was no difference between the scores in 6- and 15 meters timed walk (p = 0.49).ConclusionCM-PPT is a stable test and more sensitive than the BI. It is moderately associated with MMSE in the elderly without diseases influencing PPT other than cognitive disorders.