Assessment of mobility and hand function in the elderly.

Assessment of mobility and of hand function is essential in evaluating the health status of older persons and enters into all decisions concerning the extent of supportive care needed and possible environments for safe and comfortable living. Elements of generally accepted assessment protocols, such as the Katz activities of daily living and others, include some measures of mobility and hand function. Until recently, most measures used have been relatively general and nonspecific and, although very useful in overall decision-making, have not been readily related to underlying pathophysiological processes, nor to more precise care plans. Recent and ongoing studies are addressing this issue. Technologies for determining mobility and hand function have now been developed and appraised for a number of uses. It has been shown that relatively simple but more precise measurements of hand function correlate highly with overall function and with the long-term care needs of older persons; risk factors for falls and related mobility problems can be explicitly identified and used as a basis for preventive efforts; and mobility and hand function measurements can play an important role in the assessment of patients with arthritis.