Validation of the 60-second chair rise as a measure of physical function in patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Yearly, 22, 200 Canadians are diagnosed with lung cancer, with 80-85% of the cases being non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With diagnoses being predominantly in the advanced stages, prognosis is poor and quality of life (QoL) becomes the focus of treatment. The main symptom cachexia, issues a loss of strength and impacts on an important aspect of QoL, physical function. Physical function is predominately assessed subjectively. Lately performance-based measures are gaining in popularity. One performance measure, the chair rise test, has not been validated in the NSCLC population and was the objective of this study.Subjects completed the chair rise test, 6MWT, hand grip, and the SF-36 pre and post chemotherapy. Evidence for construct and discriminant validity but not predictive validity was provided for the chair rise test. The 60-second chair rise may be too strenuous for persons with severe disability but a standardized timed-based chair rise test is needed