Research

Age and gender differences in seven tests of functional mobility

Annie A Butler^* , Jasmine C Menant^* , Anne C Tiedemann^* and Stephen R Lord^*

Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute, University of New South Wales, Barker St, Randwick, Sydney, NSW, 2031, Australia

author email corresponding author email* Contributed equally

Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 2009, 6:31doi:10.1186/1743-0003-6-31

Published:	30 July 2009

Abstract

Background

The objective of this study was to examine age and gender differences in seven tests of functional mobility.

Methods

The study included 50 young participants aged 20 to 39 years, and 684 older participants aged 75 to 98 years. Functional mobility measures included the coordinated stability test, the near tandem balance test, the six metre walk test, the sit to stand test with five repetitions, the alternate step test and the stair ascent and descent tests.

Results

Older participants performed significantly worse than the younger participants in all of the functional mobility tests (p < 0.001), with the older women performing worse than the older men in all of the tests (p < 0.05). Significant correlations were found within the older group among all the functional mobility tests scores (r = 0.24–0.87, p < 0.001), and between functional mobility performance and age (r = 0.14–0.35, p < 0.001). People with arthritis and stroke performed worse than people without these conditions in these tests.

Conclusion

This study provides a normative database for performance of young and older community-dwelling people in a battery of validated and reliable functional mobility tests. The results confirm age-related differences in functional mobility between young and older adults.