Reliability of Virtual Physical Performance Assessments in Veterans during the COVID-19 Pandemic

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: To determine the reliability of three physical performance tests performed via a telehealth visit (30-second arm curls test, 30-second chair stand test, 2-minute step test) among community-dwelling older Veterans. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: Virtual. PARTICIPANTS: Veterans (mean age 75) who enrolled in Gerofit, virtual group exercise program. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants were tested by two different assessors at one time point. The Interclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and Bland-Altman plots were used as measures of reliability. To assess generalizability, ICCs were further evaluated by health conditions (type 2 diabetes, arthritis, obesity, and depression). RESULTS: Assessments were conducted among 55 participants. The ICC was above 0.98 for all three tests across health conditions and Bland-Altman plots indicated that there were no significant systematic errors in the measurement. CONCLUSIONS: The virtual physical performance measures appear to have high reliability and the findings are generalizable across health conditions among Veterans. Thus, they are reliable for evaluating physical performance in older Veterans in virtual settings. AUTHOR(S) DISCLOSURES: The authors declare no conflict of interest.