Unfinished physical tests for health or safety linked to disability
An observational study of 6,267 Chinese participants linked recorded health or safety reasons for unfinished tests to later disability and higher odds of death.
The observational study included 6,267 participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Researchers examined recorded health or safety reasons for not completing balance, walking-speed or chair-standing tests. This applied to 721 participants (11.5%).
Non-completion was associated with later disability affecting everyday activities after researchers accounted for health differences. The association remained after further adjustment for participants’ initial functional abilities. Non-completion was also associated with higher odds of death. Researchers checked functional outcomes in 6,175 participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. There, 840 participants had recorded health or safety reasons for not completing balance, chair-standing or grip-strength tests. The English findings on function pointed in the same direction.
Why it matters
Physical performance tests assess older adults’ functional capacity. The findings suggest that reasons for unfinished tests may provide useful information alongside scores when assessing the risk of later functional decline.
Caveats
This observational study could not establish that test non-completion caused disability or death. The abstract did not report participants’ ages, follow-up duration or the size of the associations.
- Balance test
- Grip strength
- Chair-stand test
- Gait speed
- Health/safety-related non-completion of physical performance tests
- Humans
The paper
Hezhou People's Hospital; the Affiliated Shunde Hospital of Jinan University
Maturitas, 13 Oct 2026
