Self-Reported Walking Ability Predicts Functional Mobility

INTERVENTION AND MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We compared the responses of these older adults on a questionnaire battery used by the Established Populationls for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (EPFSE) project, to performance on mobility tasks of graded difficulty. Responses to the EPESE battcry included: (1) whether assistance was required to perform seven Katz activities of daily living (ADL) items, specifically witl walking and transferrilg; (2) three Rosow-Breslau items, includinig the ability to walk up stairs and walk a half mile; and (3) five Nagi items, including difficulty stooping, reaching, and lifting objects. The performanice measures included the ability to perform, and time taken to perform, tasks in three sutmmary score domains: (1) walking ("Walking," seven tasks, including walking with art assistive device, turning, stair climbing, tandem walking); (2) stance maintenance ("Stance," six tasks, including unipedal, bipedal, tandem, and maximum lean); and (3) chair rise ("Chair Rise," six tasks, including rising from a variety of seat heights with and without the use of hands for assistance).