The Usefulness of Short Physical Performance Battery Score for Predicting the Ability of Toilet Activity in Hospitalized Older Patients

Background: It has been still unclear whether the cut-off value of the short physical performance battery for predicting the ability of the toilet activity in the hospitalized older patients. The aim of this study was to reveal the relationship between the short physical performance battery and the ability of toilet activity, and also to determine the cut-off value of the short physical performance battery score for the ability of toilet activity in the hospitalized older patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 71 hospitalized older patients were recruited. The short physical performance battery and the ability of toilet activity using the Barthel index (BI) were measured. The patients were split into two groups, according to the ability of toilet activity (Group 1: 10 point; Group 2: 5 point or less in BI score). A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between the two groups. Moreover, the cut-off value for dividing into two groups, (Group 1 and Group 2) using the short physical performance battery score, which was calculated by a receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: The short physical performance battery score was an independent explanator for the ability of toilet activity using multiple logistic regression analysis. Besides, the cut-off value of the short physical performance battery for the ability of toilet activity was set in this study. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that the cut-off value of the short physical performance battery score could be a useful index to predict the ability of toilet activity in the hospitalized older patients.