Sitting up and transferring to a chair: two functional tests for patients with stroke.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the reliability of two clinical tests of mobility for stroke patients. The study took place in a university hospital with a case control design. A sample of convenience including 31 subjects: a group of patients with prior stroke (n = 19); a control group (n = 12). The time(s) for sitting up from a supine position and transferring from an examination table to a chair were measured and inter- and intra-rater reliability were assessed. The source of variation in the test results as well as intra-class correlations were estimated. The largest source of variation in the supine position was between subjects, and the between-tester variability was very low, with similar results for the transfer from table to chair. The intra-class correlations are all high (range 0.77-0.98). This indicates that it is of little importance which tester is performing the tests. Sitting up on an examination table and transferring from an examination table to a chair seem to be reliable timed clinical tests of mobility in stroke research.