School for Public Health and Primary Care, Department of Health Services Research, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2012 Sep;13(7):665.e1-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2012.06.009. Epub 2012 Jul 17.
To investigate the construct validity of a bathroom scale measuring balance in elderly people.
Cross-sectional study.
Participants were recruited via nursing homes and an organization that provides exercise classes for community-dwelling elderly people.
Nursing home patients were compared with active community-dwelling elderly people. Eligibility criteria for both groups were: aged 65 years or older and being able to step onto a bathroom scale independently.
The balance measurement of the bathroom scale was compared with the following three clinical balance measurements: Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA), Timed Up and Go (TUG), and Four Test Balance Scale (FTBS). An independent samples t-test was performed to determine whether nursing home patients scored lower on these four balance tests compared with community-dwelling elderly people. Correlations were calculated between the bathroom scale balance scores and those of the clinical balance tests for nursing home patients and community-dwelling elderly people separately.
Forty-seven nursing home patients with a mean age of 81 years (SD 6.40) and 54 community-dwelling elderly people with a mean age of 76 years (SD 5.06) participated in the study. The results showed that nursing home patients had significantly lower scores on all four balance tests compared with community-dwelling elderly people. Correlations between the bathroom scale scores and the POMA, TUG, and FTBS in nursing home patients were all significant: .49, -.60, and .63, respectively. These correlations were not significant in active community-dwelling elderly people, -.04, -.42, and .33, respectively. Linear regression analyses showed that the correlations for the bathroom scale and POMA, bathroom scale and TUG, and bathroom scale and FTBS did not differ statistically between nursing home patients and community-dwelling elderly people.
These results suggest that the modified bathroom scale is useful for measuring balance in elderly people. However, the added value of this assessment method for clinical practice remains to be demonstrated.
研究一种用于测量老年人平衡能力的浴室秤的结构效度。
横断面研究。
通过养老院和为社区居住的老年人提供锻炼课程的组织招募参与者。
养老院患者与活跃的社区居住的老年人进行比较。两组的入选标准均为：年龄 65 岁或以上，能够独立踏上浴室秤。
浴室秤的平衡测量与以下三种临床平衡测量进行比较：活动能力测试（POMA）、起身行走测试（TUG）和四项平衡测试量表（FTBS）。对养老院患者和社区居住的老年人进行独立样本 t 检验，以确定养老院患者在这四项平衡测试中的得分是否低于社区居住的老年人。分别计算了浴室秤平衡评分与养老院患者和社区居住的老年人的临床平衡测试之间的相关性。
共有 47 名平均年龄为 81 岁（SD 6.40）的养老院患者和 54 名平均年龄为 76 岁（SD 5.06）的社区居住的老年人参加了研究。结果表明，养老院患者在所有四项平衡测试中的得分均明显低于社区居住的老年人。浴室秤评分与 POMA、TUG 和 FTBS 在养老院患者中的相关性均具有统计学意义：分别为.49、-.60 和.63。在活跃的社区居住的老年人中，这些相关性无统计学意义：分别为 -.04、-.42 和.33。线性回归分析表明，浴室秤与 POMA、浴室秤与 TUG 以及浴室秤与 FTBS 的相关性在养老院患者和社区居住的老年人之间无统计学差异。
这些结果表明，改良后的浴室秤可用于测量老年人的平衡能力。然而，这种评估方法在临床实践中的附加价值仍有待证明。
