2013 Volume 10 Pages 1-7
This study aimed to examine the difference in center-of-gravity (CG) transfer velocity during sit-to-stand (STS) movements between healthy elderly (HE) and pre-frail elderly (PfE) females. Subjects were 24 HE females (age, 79.5 ± 4.9 years) and 24 PfE females (age, 79.5 ± 4.9 years) who were able to independently stand up from being seated in a chair. Peak and mean velocities (PV, MV, respectively) of CG transfer during STS movements were used as evaluation parameters. HE subjects were signifi cantly faster for both parameters (PV: PfE, 60.8 ± 18.8 cm/s; HE: 99.0 ± 14.3 cm/ s; MV: PfE, 29.6 ± 10.7 cm/s; HE, 52.3 ± 10.3 cm/s) and the differences were large (Cohen’s d = 2.29 and 2.17). Cutoff values between HE and PfE were 84.8 cm/s (sensitivity, 87.5%; specifi city, 95.8%) for PV and 40.1 cm/s (sensitivity, 87.5%; specifi city, 79.1%) for MV, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves was significantly large (0.953 and 0.927, respectively, for PV and MV). In conclusion, our results showed that CG transfer velocity during STS movements can be used for accurate evaluation of the physical function level of the elderly.
