Objective: Systematically review home-based physical capacity tests and their clinimetric properties in different patient populations with a chronic disease.

Background: Physical capacity is a predictor of disability and mortality in older people and can be used to monitor disease progression in chronic diseases. Multiple tests like the 6MWT and timed up and go (TUG) are available, which are mostly used in clinic. In clinic testing requires a supervisor. Performing these tests at home would make it possible to assess physical capacity more often and in a natural environment. Multiple efforts to modify physical capacity tests for suiting the home situation have been done.

Method: Pubmed and CINAHL were searched for relevant articles. Articles that used a home-based or remotely supervised physical capacity test were included. Reviews, case studies and protocols were excluded. Study design, study population and type of physical capacity test were extracted. Also, clinimetric properties were extracted including (test-retest) reliability, criterion validity and responsiveness.

Results: We included 25 articles, studying the 6MWT (n=18), the TUG (n=2), the 30 second Sit To Stand test (n=2) and the step test (n=2). Studies were performed in different patient populations, including Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, cancer, spine-related disability or patients that underwent a total hip arthroplasty. Tests were performed via smartphone applications, accelerometers, inertial measurement units, videoconferencing or using a 5-meter rope, a lap counter and a timer. At home testing was successful in most studies. For the 6MWT, reliability and validity were established for multiple approaches including smartphone applications, accelerometry, GPS and a 5-meter rope. For the other tests, most studies did not investigate reliability, validity, or responsiveness of their approach.

Conclusion: Testing physical capacity remotely at home using different approaches seems feasible. More research is needed to determine clinimetrics in different tests and their approaches

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/unsupervised-physical-capacity-testing-at-home-a-systematic-review/