The analysis of our outcomes illustrates the similarities and differences between the identified tests
Assessment s of gait , balance , and transfer in elderly people play a valuable role in maintaining healthy aging and preventing a decline in mobility .
Several evaluation tools have been proposed ; however , clinicians should select the most accurate ones wisely , based on numerous criteria .
This systematic review aims to identify all applicable elderly mobility assessment tests and show their measurement properties with as much detail as possible .
Properties of the ‘Timed Up and Go’ Test: More than Meets the Eye
Background : The  ‘ timed up and go ’ test ( TUG ) is a simple , quick and widely used clinical performance-based measure of lower extremity function , mobility and fall risk . We speculated that its properties may be different from other performance-based tests and assessed whether cognitive function may contribute to the differences among these tests in a cohort of healthy older adults . Objective : To evaluate psychometric properties of the TUG in healthy older adults in comparison to the Berg balance test ( BBT ) and the Dynamic Gait Index ( DGI ) . Methods : The  TUG , DGI and BBT  were assessed in 265 healthy older adults ( 76.4 ± 4.3 years ; 58.3 % women ) who participated in a 3-year prospect i ve study . The  Mini-Mental State Examination , digit span and verbal fluency measured cognitive function . The one- sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test evaluated deviations from a normal distribution and Pearson ’s correlation coefficients quantified associations . Results : The mean scores of the BBT , DGI and TUG were : 54.0 ± 2.4 , 22.8 ± 1.5 , 9.5 ± 1.7 s , respectively . The BBT and the DGI were not normally distributed ( p < 0.001 ) , but the TUG was ( p = 0.713 ) . The TUG times were mildly associated ( p < 0.01 ) with digit span and verbal fluency and were related to future falls , while the BBT and the DGI were not . Conclusions : The TUG appears to be an appropriate tool for clinical assessment of functional mobility even in healthy older adults . It does not suffer from ceiling effect limitations , is normally distributed and is apparently related to executive function . The BBT and the DGI do not share these beneficial properties . Perhaps the transferring and turning components of the TUG help to convert this relatively simple motor task into a more complex measure that also depends on cognitive re sources
The analysis of our outcomes illustrates the similarities and differences between the identified tests
Assessment s of gait , balance , and transfer in elderly people play a valuable role in maintaining healthy aging and preventing a decline in mobility .
Several evaluation tools have been proposed ; however , clinicians should select the most accurate ones wisely , based on numerous criteria .
This systematic review aims to identify all applicable elderly mobility assessment tests and show their measurement properties with as much detail as possible .