Conclusion The Timed Up and Go test has limited ability to predict  falls in community dwelling elderly and should not be used in isolation to identify individuals at high risk of falls in this setting
Background The Timed Up and Go test ( TUG ) is a commonly used screening tool to assist clinicians to identify patients at risk of falling .
The purpose of this systematic review and meta- analysis is to determine the overall predictive value of the TUG in community-dwelling older adults .
Is timed up and go better than gait speed in predicting health, function, and falls in older adults?
OBJECTIVES To assess whether the Timed Up and Go ( TUG ) is superior to gait speed in predicting multiple geriatric outcomes . DESIGN Prospect i ve cohort study . SETTING Medicare health maintenance organization and Veterans Affairs primary care clinics . PARTICIPANTS Adults aged 65 and older ( N=457 ) . MEASUREMENTS Baseline gait speed and TUG  were used to predict health decline according to EuroQol and Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Survey ( SF-36 ) global health ; functional decline according to National Health Interview Survey ( NHIS ) activities of daily living ( ADLs ) score and SF-36 physical function index ; hospitalization ; and any falls and multiple falls over 1 year . RESULTS Mean age was 74 , and 44 % of participants were female . Odds ratios for all outcomes were equivalent for gait speed and TUG . Using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.7 or greater for acceptable predictive ability , gait speed and TUG each alone predicted decline in global health , new ADL difficulty , and falls , with no difference in predictive ability between performance measures . Neither performance measure predicted hospitalization , EuroQol decline , or physical function decline . As a continuous variable , TUG did not add predictive ability to gait speed for any outcome . CONCLUSION Gait speed predicts most geriatric outcomes , including falls , as does TUG . The time taken to complete TUG may not add to information provided by gait speed , although its qualitative elements may have other utility
Conclusion The Timed Up and Go test has limited ability to predict  falls in community dwelling elderly and should not be used in isolation to identify individuals at high risk of falls in this setting
Background The Timed Up and Go test ( TUG ) is a commonly used screening tool to assist clinicians to identify patients at risk of falling .
The purpose of this systematic review and meta- analysis is to determine the overall predictive value of the TUG in community-dwelling older adults .