This study provides evidence that performance measures can validly characterize older persons across a broad spectrum of lower extremity function. Performance and self-report measures may complement each other in providing useful information about functional status.

No abstract

Background.Although it has been demonstrated that physical performance measures predict incident disability in previously nondisabled older persons, the available data have not been fully developed to create usable methods for determining risk profiles in community-dwelling populations. Using several populations and different follow-up periods, this study replicates previous findings by using the Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (EPESE) performance battery and provides equations for the prediction of disability risk according to age, sex, and level of performance.

No abstract

Brief measurement devices can alleviate respondent burden and lower refusal rates in surveys. This article reports on a field test of two shorter forms of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) symptoms index in a multisite survey of persons 65 and older. Factor analyses demonstrate that the briefer forms tap the same symptoms dimensions as does the original CES-D, and reliability statistics indicate that they sacrifice little precision. Simple transformations are presented to how scores from the briefer forms can be compared to those of the original.