The timed "up and go" test: Reliability and validity in persons with unilateral lower limb amputation

Objective: To determine the interrater and interrater reliability and the validity of the Timed "up and go" test as a measure for physical mobility in elderly patients with an amputation of the lower extremity. Design: To test interrater reliability, the test was performed for two observers at different times of the same day in an alternating order. To test intrarater reliability, the patients performed the test for one observer on two consecutive visits with an interval of 2 weeks. To test validity, the results of the Timed "up and go" test were compared with the results on the Sickness Impact Profile, 68-item version (SIP68), and the Groningen Activity Restriction Scale (GARS). Patients: Thirty-two patients, age 60yrs or older, with unilateral transtibial or transfemoral amputation because of peripheral vascular disease. Results: The Timed "up and go" test showed good intrarater and interrater reliability (r = .93 and .96, respectively). A moderate relationship exists between the Timed "up and go" test and the GAPS, a good relationship exists with the "physical subscales" of the SLP68, and there is no relationship with the "mental subscales" of the SIP68. Conclusions: The Timed "up and go" test is a reliable instrument with adequate concurrent validity to measure the physical mobility of patients with an amputation of the lower extremity. (C) 1999 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation