Association Between Timed Up-and-Go Test and Future Changes in the Frailty Status in a Longitudinal Study of Japanese Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Yosuke Wada; Kensaku Shojima; Kayoko Tamaki; Takara Mori; Hiroshi Kusunoki; Masaaki Onishi; Shotaro Tsuji; Ryota Matsuzawa; Koutatsu Nagai; Kyoko Sano; Kana Hashimoto; Masashi Goto; Yasuyuki Nagasawa; Ken Shinmura

doi:10.2147/CIA.S413513

Association Between Timed Up-and-Go Test and Future Changes in the Frailty Status in a Longitudinal Study of Japanese Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Clin Interv Aging. 2023 Jul 28:18:1191-1200. doi: 10.2147/CIA.S413513. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yosuke Wada^{1

2}, Kensaku Shojima¹, Kayoko Tamaki¹, Takara Mori^{1

3}, Hiroshi Kusunoki^{1

4}, Masaaki Onishi⁵, Shotaro Tsuji^{5

6}, Ryota Matsuzawa⁷, Koutatsu Nagai⁷, Kyoko Sano⁸, Kana Hashimoto⁹, Masashi Goto¹⁰, Yasuyuki Nagasawa¹, Ken Shinmura^{1

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Hyogo Medical University, Nishinomiya, Japan.
² Roppou Clinic, Toyooka, Hyogo, Japan.
³ Amagasaki Medical COOP Honden Clinic, Amagasaki, Hyogo, Japan.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka Dental University, Hirakata, Japan.
⁵ Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Hyogo Medical University, Nishinomiya, Japan.
⁶ Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Tatsuno City Hospital, Tatsuno, Japan.
⁷ Department of Physical Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Hyogo Medical University, Kobe, Japan.
⁸ Takarazuka Rehabilitation Hospital, Takarazuka, Japan.
⁹ School of Pharmacy, Hyogo Medical University, Kobe, Japan.
¹⁰ Department of General Medicine and Community Health Science, Hyogo Medical University, Sasayama Medical Center, Tambasasayama, Japan.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between timed up-and-go (TUG) test time and changes in frailty status in a longitudinal cohort study of rural Japanese older adults.

Patients and methods: This prospective cohort study included 545 community-dwelling older adults. Initial and 2-year follow-up surveys were conducted. We compared the number of the Japanese version of the Cardiovascular Health Study components during the follow-up period and classified the participants into three groups: the favorable change, unchanged as prefrail, and unfavorable change groups. Associations between changes in frailty status and TUG time in the first survey were examined. The predictive ability of the TUG test was determined using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

Results: The favorable change group comprised 315 individuals (57.8%), the unchanged as prefrail group 105 (19.2%), and the unfavorable change group 125 (22.9%). TUG time was associated with the favorable and unfavorable changes after adjustment for covariates (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.68-0.92, P=0.001 and OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.09-1.49, P=0.002). The ROC curve of TUG time as a predictor of unfavorable changes showed an area under the curve of 0.59. A cut-off point of TUG was calculated as 6.3 s with 49.6% sensitivity and 66.0% specificity.

Conclusion: TUG time in the first survey was significantly associated with changes in frailty status 2 years later. However, its predictive value as a stand-alone test is limited and has the potential to predict future changes in the frailty status in older adults in combination with other tests.

Keywords: cardiovascular health study; frailty; older adults; physical function; timed up-and-go test.

MeSH terms

Aged
East Asian People
Frailty* / diagnosis
Geriatric Assessment
Humans
Independent Living
Longitudinal Studies
Prospective Studies

Grants and funding

This study was supported in part by the JSPS KAKENHI (grant number: 22K19496) (2022), Uehara Memorial Foundation (202120105), and National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology (Choujyu 20-1) (2022) (Dr. Shinmura). The authors certify that they comply with the ethical guidelines for authorship and publishing in Clinical Interventions in Aging.