Abstract
Background
Short physical performance battery (SPPB) is a well-accepted clinical test to assess vulnerability in older adults. We aimed to develop and validate a multi-sensor based kiosk (e-SPPB kiosk) which can perform automated measurement for SPPB.
Methods
The e-SPPB kiosk was developed to measure 3 components of SPPB of standing balance, gait speed, and chair stand test with embedded sensors and algorithms. Feasibility and reliability of the e-SPPB kiosk was assessed with the manually measured SPPB (m-SPPB) by a physical therapist in participants aged 65 or older recruited from the outpatient rehabilitation clinic of the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea, from November 2018 to April 2019.
Results
In 34 participants with mean age of 73.6 (standard deviation [SD] 5.4), mean of e-SPPB total score was 10.1 (SD 2.2) and mean of m-SPPB total score was 10.2 (SD 2.3). Concordance between e-SPPB and m-SPPB total score was 0.94 (P<0.001) and agreement by Kappa was 0.65 (P<0.001). Agreements for components of e-SPPB and m-SPPB were 0.68 (P<0.001), 0.73 (P<0.001), 0.92 (P<0.001) for standing balance, gait speed and chair stand test, respectively.
Conclusion
In older adults, physical performance measured by the e-SPPB kiosk correlated to m-SPPB measured by a single physical therapist. In multicenter studies for older people with physical performance as an outcome or selection criterion, e-SPPB kiosk can be used to reduce possible inter-rater variabilities of SPPB.