BACKGROUND: Physical functional capacity is impaired in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). There is no tool to measure this key clinical outcome. The continuous-scale physical function performance (CS-PFP) test is one that assesses activities of daily living, but it has never been used in IPF. METHODS: We determined internal consistency of the CS-PFP. We used correlations to assess the strength of association between CS-PFP scores and various parameters of IPF severity, and compared the CS-PFP scores between patients with IPF and published values from a healthy control group. RESULTS: Sixteen subjects completed the test and retest. Test-retest reliability (0.84, p = 0.003) and internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.91) were excellent. Subjects with IPF had significantly worse CS-PFP scores than controls (46.0 ± 11.1 vs 58.7 ± 12.5, p = 0.001). In IPF, the CS-PFP scores correlated moderately to very strongly with several disease severity variables. CONCLUSION: The CS-PFP is a reliable and valid tool in IPF.
BACKGROUND: Physical functional capacity is impaired in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). There is no tool to measure this key clinical outcome. The continuous-scale physical function performance (CS-PFP) test is one that assesses activities of daily living, but it has never been used in IPF. METHODS: We determined internal consistency of the CS-PFP. We used correlations to assess the strength of association between CS-PFP scores and various parameters of IPF severity, and compared the CS-PFP scores between patients with IPF and published values from a healthy control group. RESULTS: Sixteen subjects completed the test and retest. Test-retest reliability (0.84, p = 0.003) and internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.91) were excellent. Subjects with IPF had significantly worse CS-PFP scores than controls (46.0 ± 11.1 vs 58.7 ± 12.5, p = 0.001). In IPF, the CS-PFP scores correlated moderately to very strongly with several disease severity variables. CONCLUSION: The CS-PFP is a reliable and valid tool in IPF.