The Glittre activities of daily living as a potential test for functional evaluation of patients on hemodialysis: a validation study

Purpose To investigate the validity and within-day reliability of the Glittre activities of daily living test (Glittre ADL-test) in patients on hemodialysis. Methods Ninety-one patients on hemodialysis were evaluated using Glittre ADL-test, functional tests, health-related quality of life, human activity profile, and social participation. Convergent validity was analyzed by the correlation analysis. The Glittre ADL-test results were compared among different levels of the functional tests, human activity profile, and participation (known-groups validity). Within-day reliability was examined by Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Results There was a significant moderate to strong correlation between Glittre ADL-test and functional tests (r = 0.62 to 0.66 and -0.70 to -0.44). A significant weak correlation was found between Glittre ADL-test, health-related quality of life (r = 0.28 to 0.32), and human activity profile (r=-0.33). There was no significant correlation with participation. Except for participation level, the Glittre ADL-test results were able to identify individuals with low performance in all evaluated tests and were able to differentiate among inactive and active individuals by human activity profile (p < 0.05). Within-day reliability was evaluated in 42 patients. The ICC was 0.97. Conclusion The Glittre ADL-test is a reliable test associated with functional parameters and physical aspects related to health-related quality of life, with potential value in the functional evaluation of patients on hemodialysis.