What is the MDC for the stair climb test?

What is the MDC for the stair climb test?

• A. 4.30 s
• B. 5.49 s
• C. 6.00 s
• D. 7.23 s

Answer: (B)

Minimal Detectable Change for the stair climb test is the smallest amount of change in time that can be considered a real change beyond the test’s normal measurement error, usually calculated at 95% confidence. It’s derived from the standard error of measurement (SEM) and is commonly expressed as MDC95 = 1.96 × sqrt(2) × SEM. In practice, the stair climb time tends to have an SEM around 2.0 seconds, which makes MDC95 about 5.5 seconds. So a change near 5.49 seconds is the threshold where you’d consider the change real rather than just day-to-day variability. If a patient improves or worsens by more than roughly 5.5 seconds, that change is likely meaningful; smaller changes could be due to measurement noise. The other times listed would reflect different degrees of change, but they’re not the smallest detectable change at 95% confidence for this test.

Minimal Detectable Change for the stair climb test is the smallest amount of change in time that can be considered a real change beyond the test’s normal measurement error, usually calculated at 95% confidence. It’s derived from the standard error of measurement (SEM) and is commonly expressed as MDC95 = 1.96 × sqrt(2) × SEM. In practice, the stair climb time tends to have an SEM around 2.0 seconds, which makes MDC95 about 5.5 seconds. So a change near 5.49 seconds is the threshold where you’d consider the change real rather than just day-to-day variability. If a patient improves or worsens by more than roughly 5.5 seconds, that change is likely meaningful; smaller changes could be due to measurement noise. The other times listed would reflect different degrees of change, but they’re not the smallest detectable change at 95% confidence for this test.