Validation of the Life-Space Assessment (LSA-CI) in multi-morbid, older persons without cognitive impairment

The "Life-Space Assessment in Persons with Cognitive Impairment" (LSA-CI) to assess mobility within the environment including frequency and independence in 1 week has been developed for and successfully validated in older persons with mild to moderate cognitive impairment. However, its psychometric properties in persons without cognitive impairment are unknown. This study aims to validate the LSA-CI in older persons without cognitive impairment.

Comprehensive validation with construct validity, test-retest reliability and sensitivity to change of the LSA-CI including the main composite score and three sub-scores in community-dwelling older persons recruited during geriatric rehabilitation.

Excellent feasibility with 100% completion rate and an average assessment duration of 4 min in 65 older, multimorbid persons (mean age: 81.4 ± 5.9 years; 72.3% female; average number of diagnoses: 11.1 ± 4.4). The LSA-CI composite score stood out with moderate to high construct validity (Spearman correlation coefficients |0.26|-|0.60|), excellent test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.890) and moderate sensitivity to change (adjusted standardized response mean 0.70). Analysis of sub-scores confirmed most of the composite score results.

The LSA-CI represents a valid, reliable, responsive, and highly feasible assessment method in multi-morbid, older persons without cognitive impairment, supporting the use of the LSA-CI in clinical practice and research.