Remote administration of the short physical performance battery, the 1-minute sit to stand, and the Chester step test in post-COVID-19 patients after hospitalization: establishing inter-reliability and agreement with the face-to-face assessment

Aspasia Mavronasou; Andreas Asimakos; Aristeidis Vasilopoulos; Paraskevi Katsaounou; Eleni A Kortianou

doi:10.1080/09638288.2023.2297928

Remote administration of the short physical performance battery, the 1-minute sit to stand, and the Chester step test in post-COVID-19 patients after hospitalization: establishing inter-reliability and agreement with the face-to-face assessment

Disabil Rehabil. 2023 Dec 29:1-11. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2023.2297928. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Aspasia Mavronasou¹, Andreas Asimakos², Aristeidis Vasilopoulos³, Paraskevi Katsaounou⁴, Eleni A Kortianou¹

Affiliations

¹ Clinical Exercise Physiology & Rehabilitation Research Laboratory, Physiotherapy Department, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece.
² First Department of Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonary Services, Evangelismos Hospital, Athens, Greece.
³ Health Assessment and Quality of Life Research Laboratory, Physiotherapy Department, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece.
⁴ Pulmonary & Respiratory Failure Department, First ICU, Evangelismos Hospital, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.

PMID: 38156771
DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2023.2297928

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the inter-reliability of the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), the 1-min Sit to Stand test (1-MSTS), and the Chester Step Test (CST) via remote assessment in post-COVID-19 patients after hospitalization.

Methods: Twenty-five post-COVID-19 patients randomly performed the functional tests via remote assessment using a software platform at home and via face-to-face assessment at the rehabilitation center 24-72 h apart. One day before the remote assessment, all participants had a 1-h guidance session regarding the platform use, safety instructions, and home equipment preparation.

Results: Participants completed all tests for both assessment procedures without experience of adverse events. The mean age was 53 (SD = 10) years old, and the median days of hospitalization were 23 (IQR = 10-33). The inter-reliability was moderate for the total score in the SPPB: Cohen's kappa = 0.545 (95% CI: 0.234 to 0.838), excellent for the number of repetitions in the 1-MSTS: ICC = 0.977 (95% CI: 0.948 to 0.990) and good for the total number of steps in the CST: ICC = 0.871 (95% CI: 0.698 to 0.944).

Conclusion: Remote functional assessments for SPPB, 1-MSTS, and CST indicated moderate to excellent inter-reliability in post-COVID-19 patients after hospitalization.

Keywords: 1-minute sit to stand; Chester step test; functional tests; post-COVID-19; remote assessment; short physical performance battery; telerehabilitation.

Plain language summary

Functional performance assessment in post-COVID-19 patients is considered important throughout the whole process of rehabilitation.The face-to-face assessment is the standard practice in the rehabilitation clinical setting however, new approaches by distance assessment are proposed when physical attendance is not feasible.The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), the 1-minute Sit to Stand test (1-MSTS), and the Chester Step Test (CST) showed moderate to excellent reliability when performed remotely at home in post-COVID-19 patients after hospitalization.