Lower Extremity Proximal Muscle Function and Dyspnea in Older Persons

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Cardiopulmonary Medicine
• Musculoskeletal Health

Background:

• Exertional dyspnea is a common complaint in older adults, impacting quality of life.
• Reduced physical function, including lower extremity strength, is prevalent in this population.
• The relationship between specific functional tests and dyspnea requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between single chair stand test performance and moderate to severe exertional dyspnea.
• To determine if poor chair stand performance predicts increased likelihood of exertional dyspnea in community-dwelling older adults.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study utilizing data from the Cardiovascular Health Study.
• Included 4,413 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years and older.
• Assessed single chair stand performance (arm use vs. no arm use) and moderate to severe exertional dyspnea (ATS grade ≥2), adjusting for multiple confounders.

Main Results:

• Poor single chair stand performance was observed in 8.4% of participants.
• Moderate to severe exertional dyspnea was present in 17.5% of participants.
• Poor chair stand performance was significantly associated with moderate to severe exertional dyspnea (adjusted OR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.41-2.41).

Conclusions:

• Poor performance on the single chair stand test is independently associated with moderate to severe exertional dyspnea.
• This suggests reduced proximal lower extremity muscle function is a contributing factor to exertional dyspnea.
• The single chair stand test may serve as a simple functional marker for assessing dyspnea risk in older adults.