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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #201735
Title: Reliability of Maximal Voluntary Muscle Strength and Power Testing in Older Men

Author
item SCHROEDER, E. TODD - KECK SCH MED, USC
item WANG, YING - KECK SCH MED, USC
item CASTANEDA-SCEPPA, CARMEN - TUFTS/HNRCA
item CLOUTIER, GREGORY - TUFTS/HNRCA
item VALLEJO, ALBERTO - KECK SCH MED, USC
item KAWAKUBO, MIWA - KECK SCH MED, USC
item JENSKY, NICOLE - KECK SCH MED, USC
item COOMBER, SUSAN - TUFTS/HNRCA
item AZEN, STANLEY - KECK SCH MED, USC
item SATTLER, FRED - KECK SCH MED, USC

Submitted to: Journal of Gerontology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/25/2006
Publication Date: 5/1/2007
Citation: Schroeder, E., Wang, Y., Castaneda-Sceppa, C., Cloutier, G., Vallejo, A.F., Kawakubo, M., Jensky, N.E., Coomber, S., Azen, S.P., Sattler, F.R. 2007. Reliability of Maximal Voluntary Muscle Strength and Power Testing in Older Men. Journal of Gerontology. 62A(5):543-549.

Interpretive Summary: Measures of maximal voluntary skeletal muscle strength and power are essential indicators of physical function in older adults and important for quantifying outcomes of study interventions. Few studies obtain multiple assessments of maximal voluntary muscle strength and power prior to interventions, which may result in an overestimation of the success of the intervention (resistance training regimens, anabolic drug therapies, etc.) if there is learning or familiarization with the testing procedures. This is of particular importance in older adults where improvements in strength may be small but have functional significance. We, therefore, hypothesized that performing these tests twice within 7 to10 days would demonstrate a greater than 5% increase due to learning and familiarization. Additionally, we sought to compare the test-retest reliability for the same measures conducted at a different university participating in our multicenter study. We found that test-retest measures of maximal voluntary muscle strength and power in older adult men do not differ by more than 2.3% except for leg extension with relatively low coefficients of variation using data collected from three different studies. Our findings suggest that it may not be necessary to perform multiple baseline tests to eliminate or minimize potential test-retest improvement as a result of familiarization and learning of the testing procedures for most exercises but the leg extension exercise may need to be repeated if this is one of the tests selected. Moreover, these findings were similar between two study sites using different equipment, which further supports the reliability of maximal voluntary muscle strength and power testing in older adult men. Lastly, these findings may be of value to geriatric researchers studying sarcopenia since maximal voluntary muscle strength and power are important indicators physical function in older adults.

Technical Abstract: Background Maximal voluntary muscle strength (MVMS) and leg power are important measures of physical function in older adults. We hypothesized that performing these measures twice within 7-10 days would demonstrate a >5% increase due to learning and familiarization of the testing procedures. Methods Data were collected from three studies in older adult men (60-87 yrs) and divided into two cohorts defined by site and type of exercise equipment. MVMS was assessed in 116 subjects using the onerepetition maximum method at pre-entry (test) and baseline (retest) visits for the chest press, latissimus pulldown, leg press, leg flexion, leg extension exercises and unilateral leg extension power. Results Test-retest scores were not different and did not exceed 0.8 +/- 9.0% in Cohort 1 or 2.3 +/- 9.8% in Cohort 2, except for leg extension which improved by 6.6 +/- 14.4% (p<0.009) and 3.4 +/- 6.8% (p<0.016), respectively. Repeat tests were closely correlated with initial tests (all p<0.001). Pearson correlation coefficients ranged from 0.74 for leg extension power to 0.96 for leg press. Coefficients of variation were <10% (4.2-9.0%) for all exercises except for leg extension power which was 15.5%. Conclusions These findings suggest that it may not be necessary to perform multiple baseline measures to eliminate or minimize potential test-retest improvement as a result of familiarization and learning of the testing procedures with the exception of the leg extension exercises. Moreover, these findings were similar between two study sites using different equipment, which further supports the reliability of MVMS and power testing in older adult men.