Reliability of Virtual Physical Performance Assessments in Veterans During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Elisa F Ogawa, Rebekah Harris, Alyssa B Dufour and 2 others
PMID 34589696WHAT IT FOUND
Virtual physical performance tests for older veterans showed high agreement between two remote assessors.
This supports using video calls to track strength and mobility in telehealth, provided the clinician can see the full movement and account for home environment variables.
Key findings
01The virtual assessments demonstrated high reliability between testers, with intraclass correlation coefficients greater than 0.99 for all physical performance tests.
02Agreement remained high across specific health conditions including diabetes, arthritis, obesity, and depression.
03Technical difficulties occurred in 5% of visits but did not materially change the reliability findings when those sessions were excluded.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study only tested reliability between two assessors at the same time. It did not test if the same patient gets the same score on different days (test-retest reliability). Participants used self-reported weights and various household chairs, so exact load and seat height were unknown and uncontrolled. The sample was predominantly male (85.5%) and non-Hispanic White (87.3%), limiting generalizability to women and other racial groups. Veterans were already enrolled in a clinical program and excluded if they had cognitive impairment or could not perform ADLs, so results may not apply to more complex or cognitively impaired patients.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these tests are valid for patients with cognitive impairment or those unable to follow standardized verbal cues, as these groups were excluded. Also, high agreement between two testers does not prove the score is accurate for the patient; it only proves the two testers saw the same thing.