Functional Reach: A Marker of Physical Frailty

Objective To establish the concurrent validity of our new balance instrument, functional reach (FR = maximal safe standing forward reach), as a marker of physical frailty compared with other clinical measures of physical performance. Design, Setting, and Participants 45 community‐dwelling persons age 66–104 were evaluated at one point in time using (1) FR (yardstick method), (2) Physical and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (PADL, IADL), (3) Life Space, a 3‐point measure of social mobility, (4) 10‐item hierarchical mobility skills protocol, (5) 10‐foot walking speed, (6) one‐footed standing, and (7) tandem walking. Data analysis employed Spearman correlations. Partial r 's were also calculated after controlling for age. Results The FR performance range was broad (4.3–16.5 inches, mean 10.9, SD 3.1). Except for PADL, the association of FR with the other physical performance measures was strong, with r ‘s ranging from 0.64–0.71; the association of FR with PADL was 0.48. After controlling for age in the regression analysis, partial r ‘s ranged from 0.52–0.63. The association of FR with age was—0.50. Conclusions Based on cross‐sectional data, FR is a practical instrument that correlates with physical frailty even more than with age.