Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jul 28:18:1191-1200.
doi: 10.2147/CIA.S413513. eCollection 2023.

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  1   2 , Kensaku Shojima  1 , Kayoko Tamaki  1 , Takara Mori  1   3 , Hiroshi Kusunoki  1   4 , Masaaki Onishi  5 , Shotaro Tsuji  5   6 , Ryota Matsuzawa  7 , Koutatsu Nagai  7 , Kyoko Sano  8 , Kana Hashimoto  9 , Masashi Goto  10 , Yasuyuki Nagasawa  1 , Ken Shinmura  1   10
Affiliations

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 et al. Clin Interv Aging. .

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Receiver operating characteristic curve of TUG test time as a predictor of unfavorable change. Area under the curve=0.59.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Clegg A, Young J, Iliffe S, Rikkert M, Rockwood K. Frailty in elderly people. Lancet. 2013;381:752–762. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62167-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fried LP, Tangen CF, Walston J, et al. Frailty in older adults: evidence for a phenotype. J Gerontol a Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001;56:M146–56. doi:10.1093/gerona/56.3.M146 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kojima G, Iliffe S, Taniguchi Y, et al. Prevalence of frailty in Japan: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Epidemiol. 2017;27:347–353. doi:10.1016/j.je.2016.09.008 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hirose T, Sawaya Y, Ishizaka M, et al. Frailty under COVID −19 pandemic in Japan: changes in prevalence of frailty from 2017 to 2021. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2023;71:1603–1609. doi:10.1111/jgs.18237 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gill TM, Gahbauer EA, Allore HG, et al. Transitions between frailty states among community-living older persons. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:418–423. doi:10.1001/archinte.166.4.418 - DOI - PubMed