Cut-off score of the 6-minute walk test for determining risk of fall in community-dwelling elderly

Abstract

Advancing age usually relates to poor functional endurance which lead to risk of fall in elderly. Therefore, an early detect functional ability in those with risk of fall should be concerned. The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) is commonly used to assess functional endurance. However, none of the studies reported on a specific cut-off score of the 6MWT for determining risk of fall. This study aimed to identify the cut-off score of the 6MWT for determining risk of fall in elderly. The participants who aged at least 65 years were classified into the age of 65-74 years and 75 years and older. They were interviewed their demographic characteristics and screened risk of fall using the tandem stand test (less than 10 seconds) and history of two or more falls within the past 6-months and investigated their functional endurance using the 6MWT. There were 255 eligible participants. Of the 187 participants were elderly aged between 65-74 years and 68 participants were aged 75 years and older. The findings reported the cut-off scores of less than 320 m (aged 65-74 years: 73.12% sensitivity and 52.13% specificity) and 295 m (aged 75 years and older: 70.83% sensitivity and 65.91% specificity) to represent risk of fall in elderly, with the acceptable area under the curve (0.71 and 0.74, respectively). The findings suggested that the specific cut-off score could assist health practitioners to early detect the elderly with risk of fall, in order to plan an appropriate prevention and promote health status in these individuals.