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E pluribus unum: Harmonization of physical functioning across intervention studies of middle-aged and older adults.

ABSTRACT: Common scales for physical functioning are not directly comparable without harmonization techniques, complicating attempts to pool data across studies. Our aim was to provide a standardized metric for physical functioning in adults based on basic and instrumental activities of daily living scaled to NIH PROMIS norms. We provide an item bank to compare the difficulty of various physical functioning activities. We used item response theory methods to place 232 basic and instrumental activities of daily living questions, administered across eight intervention studies of middle-aged and older adults (N = 2,556), on a common metric. We compared the scale's precision to an average z-score of items and evaluated criterion validity based on objective measures of physical functioning and Fried's frailty criteria. Model-estimated item thresholds were widely distributed across the range of physical functioning. From test information plots, the lowest precision in each dataset was 0.80. Using power calculations, the sample size needed to detect 25% physical functional decline with 80% power based on the physical functioning factor was less than half of what would be needed using an average z-score. The physical functioning factor correlated in expected directions with objective measurements from the Timed Up and Go task, tandem balance, gait speed, chair stands, grip strength, and frailty status. Item-level harmonization enables direct comparison of physical functioning measures across existing and potentially future studies and across levels of function using a nationally representative metric. We identified key thresholds of physical functioning items in an item bank to facilitate clinical and epidemiologic decision-making.

SUBMITTER: Armstrong NM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5533461 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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E pluribus unum: Harmonization of physical functioning across intervention studies of middle-aged and older adults.

Armstrong Nicole M NM Gitlin Laura N LN Parisi Jeanine M JM Carlson Michelle C MC Rebok George W GW Gross Alden L AL

PloS one 20170728 7

Common scales for physical functioning are not directly comparable without harmonization techniques, complicating attempts to pool data across studies. Our aim was to provide a standardized metric for physical functioning in adults based on basic and instrumental activities of daily living scaled to NIH PROMIS norms. We provide an item bank to compare the difficulty of various physical functioning activities. We used item response theory methods to place 232 basic and instrumental activities of ...[more]

PMID: 28753644

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Project description:OBJECTIVES:To describe aerobic physical activity among middle-aged and older adults by their self-reported cognitive decline and their receipt of informal care for declines in cognitive functioning and most common type of physical activity. DESIGN:Cross-sectional study using data from the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. SETTING:Landline and cellular telephone survey. PARTICIPANTS:93,082 respondents aged 45 years and older from 21 US states in 2011. MEASUREMENTS:Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) was defined as experiencing confusion or memory loss that was happening more often or getting worse during the past 12 months. Regular care was defined as always, usually, or sometimes receiving care from family or friends because of SCD. Using the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, respondents were classified as being inactive, insufficiently active, or sufficiently active based on their reported aerobic exercise. We calculated weighted proportions and used chi-square tests for differences across categories by SCD status and receipt of care. We estimated the prevalence ratio (PR) for being inactive, insufficiently active, and sufficiently active using separate log-binomial regression models, adjusting for covariates. RESULTS:12.3% of respondents reported SCD and 23.1% of those with SCD received regular care. 29.6% (95%CI: 28.9-30.4) of respondents without SCD were inactive compared to 37.1% (95%CI: 34.7-39.5) of those with SCD who did not receive regular care and 50.2% (95%CI: 45.2-55.1) of those with SCD who received regular care. 52.4% (95%CI: 51.6-53.2) of respondents without SCD were sufficiently active compared to 46.4% (95%CI: 43.8-49.0) of respondents with SCD and received no regular care and 30.6% (95%CI: 26.1-35.6) of respondents with SCD who received regular care. After adjusting for demographic and health status differences, people receiving regular care for SCD had a significantly lower prevalence of meeting aerobic guidelines compared to people without SCD (PR=0.80, 95%CI: 0.69-0.93, p=0.005). The most prevalent physical activity was walking for adults aged ? 45 years old (41-52%) regardless of SCD status or receipt of care. CONCLUSION:Overall, the prevalence of inactivity was high, especially among people with SCD. These findings suggest a need to increase activity among middle-aged and older adults, particularly those with SCD who receive care. Examining ways to increase walking, potentially by involving informal caregivers, could be a promising way for people with SCD to reduce inactivity and gain the health benefits associated with meeting physical activity guidelines.

Project description:ObjectiveStudies use different instruments to measure cognitirating cognitive tests permit direct comparisons of individuals across studies and pooling data for joint analyses.MethodWe began our legacy item bank with data from the Adult Changes in Thought study (n = 5,546), the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (n = 3,016), the Rush Memory and Aging Project (n = 2,163), and the Religious on such as the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale, the Wechsler Memory Scale, and the Boston Naming Test. CocalibOrders Study (n = 1,456). Our workflow begins with categorizing items administered in each study as indicators of memory, executive functioning, language, visuospatial functioning, or none of these domains. We use confirmatory factor analysis models with data from the most recent visit on the pooled sample across these four studies for cocalibration and derive item parameters for all items. Using these item parameters, we then estimate factor scores along with corresponding standard errors for each domain for each study. We added additional studies to our pipeline as available and focused on thorough consideration of candidate anchor items with identical content and administration methods across studies.ResultsPrestatistical harmonization steps such qualitative and quantitative assessment of granular cognitive items and evaluating factor structure are important steps when trying to cocalibrate cognitive scores across studies. We have cocalibrated cognitive data and derived scores for four domains for 76,723 individuals across 10 studies.ConclusionsWe have implemented a large-scale effort to harmonize and cocalibrate cognitive domain scores across multiple studies of cognitive aging. Scores on the same metric facilitate meta-analyses of cognitive outcomes across studies or the joint analysis of individual data across studies. Our systematic approach allows for cocalibration of additional studies as they become available and our growing item bank enables robust investigation of cognition in the context of aging and dementia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Dataset Information

E pluribus unum: Harmonization of physical functioning across intervention studies of middle-aged and older adults.

Publications

E pluribus unum: Harmonization of physical functioning across intervention studies of middle-aged and older adults.

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