Assessment of functional mobility of elderly males and females from high altitude regions of India

The objective of the present study was to assess the functional mobility of male and female elderly subjects residing in high-altitude regions of India. The study was performed on 300 elderly males and 300 elderly females between the age range of 60 to 70 years residing in Tehri, Uttarakhand. The selected elderly subjects were chosen purposively and none have any history of serious medical illness. To assess the problems of functional mobility of the selected subjects, a pre-validated functional mobility scale was developed. The reliability and validity of this scale were established through valid statistical measures. The items in this scale addressed the problem of lying to sitting, sitting to lying, sitting to standing, standing, gait, timed walk and functional reach. Scores above 13 show that the subject has no problems related to functional mobility, scores between 10-13 denote mild functional mobility problems, scores between 6-9 denote moderate functional mobility problems and scores below 6 denote severe functional mobility problems. Functional mobility in 21.4% of elderly subjects was found to be severely compromised. The results also showed that the problems of functional mobility are almost the same in both groups that have elderly males and elderly females. It was concluded that the problems of functional mobility in the majority of elderly males and females are not severe.