The Community Balance and Mobility Scale: A VALID ASSESSMENT TOOL OF BALANCE IN CARDIAC REHABILITATION PATIENTS

Many patients participating in cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs have decreased balance. This is a concern, as it may affect their ability to optimally perform physical exercise in CR and thus decrease CR efficacy. Despite this concern, balance is typically not assessed as part of CR intake. This may be attributable to the fact that a suitable balance assessment tool has not been identified for higher-functioning CR patients. A potential solution to this issue is using the Community Balance and Mobility Scale (CBMS), which has been used to assess balance in higher-functioning clinical populations; however, its use in a CR population has never been investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of the CBMS for assessing balance in CR patients.

Fifty-three participants were recruited from local CR programs to perform the CBMS. Dynamic posturography was also measured in a subset of participants (n = 31) using the Limits of Stability (LOS) test.

Analysis of CBMS scores revealed that the mean CBMS score was 61.9 ± 16.2 (out of 96) and that no floor or ceiling effects were observed for any participants. CBMS scores were significantly correlated with the LOS results (0.41-0.53). Interrater reliability between novice and expert testers was strong (r = 0.95), with all differences falling within the 95% limits of agreement.

Overall, these results suggest that the CBMS is a valid tool to measure balance in CR patients and can be reliably administered by health care professionals with minimal training.