Usage of Short Physical Performance Battery

Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) consists of three components: balance, timed 4 m walk, and chair stands. The standing balance portion required participants to maintain a side-by-side, semitandem, and tandem stance for 10 seconds, with scores ranging from 0 to 4 (maximum score). The fastest time of two 4 m usual-pace walk attempts was used. The chair stands required participants to rise from a chair with arms across their chest for five repetitions. Categorical scores (range 0–4) for the 4 m walk and chair stands were based on timed quartiles previously established in a large population. Individuals unable to complete either task received a score of 0. The sum of the three components comprised the final SPPB score with a possible range from 0 to 12 (12 indicating the highest degree of lower extremity functioning). Full criteria for test administration are available at www.grc.nia.nih.gov/branches/ledb/sppb/index.htm

Mobility is essential to independence and is a key component of overall quality of life. Among older persons, the ability to walk remains a critical element of most basic and instrumental activities of daily life, and early decrements in mobility function are prognostic of future adverse health events. Performance-based measures of physical function have been strongly associated with health services utilization, hospitalization, institutionalization, falls, and mortality. Even among nondisabled individuals, performance measures have been shown to predict the onset of self-reported disability and capture a wide range of function.

In senior and in-home caregiver community ,if we  know one paramedic can monitor how many elderly same time , we can arrange  works of paramedic more effective .  Because the SPPB score and daily life have been shown to be highly correlated. The elderly  who have lower SPPB score has bigger disability risk in future.  So SPPB can  predict disability, institutionalization, and mortality, which is increasingly used in randomized controlled trials in older adults. Through testing customers SPPB score at advance, we can estimate how many elderly one paramedic can monitor. Certainly ,  the principle need many experiments .