Development and examination of a functional reactive agility test for older adults

Background Reactive agility tests have become popular in sport for talent identification; however, the ability of these tests to evaluate physical function and falls risk in clinical populations warrants future study. Aim To examine the reliability and construct validity of a novel functional reactive agility test (FRAT) across the lifespan. Methods Forty-three young (24 ± 2 years), 32 middle-aged (50 ± 2 years), and 19 old (66 ± 4 years) men performed a FRAT that included a rapid lateral movement (1.5 m) in response to a randomly delayed visual stimulus. Test–retest reliability and minimum difference (MD) scores were determined from a subset of participants. Results There was no systematic error (P \u3e 0.087) between testing days, and the intraclass correlation coefficients, standard error of measurement (% of the mean), and MD values for decision time, movement time, and total time ranged from 0.876 to 0.949, 4.16–9.24%, and 0.128–0.138 s, respectively. The young men had faster decision times (P = 0.027) when compared to the older men and faster total times when compared to the middle-aged and older men (P \u3c 0.001). Discussion The FRAT demonstrated acceptable reliability and construct validity between different age groups. Conclusion Due to its limited space requirements, the FRAT may serve as a useful tool in future studies examining clinical populations