TOPLINE

Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) required more time to complete the Glittre Activities of Daily Living (ADL) test — a physical performance assessment tool that mimics real-life situations — compared with healthy control individuals. The test demonstrated excellent reliability and strong correlations with functional capacity and muscle strength.

METHODOLOGY

• A cross-sectional study conducted between June 2023 and July 2025 evaluated the validity, reliability, and clinical utility of the Glittre ADL test in patients with AF.
• A total of 78 participants were enrolled, comprising 39 patients with permanent or persistent AF (mean age, 61.33 years) and 39 age-matched and sex-matched healthy control individuals.
• The Glittre ADL test required participants to complete five laps of a circuit involving standing from a chair, walking, climbing stairs, and moving weighted bottles between shelves while carrying a weighted backpack (2.5 kg for women, 5 kg for men).
• Concurrent validity was assessed by correlating Glittre test time with the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), and construct validity was evaluated by correlating Glittre test time with peripheral muscle strength measurements, the five-times sit-to-stand test (5STS), and questionnaire scores.
• Test-retest reliability was assessed in the AF group by repeating the Glittre ADL test after a 1-hour rest interval on the same day. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis determined the test's ability to discriminate individuals with functional impairment, defined as 6MWT distance less than 450 meters.

TAKEAWAY

• Patients with AF completed the Glittre ADL test significantly slower than healthy control individuals (median, 198.98 seconds vs 180.09 seconds; P < .001) and required 113.2% of predicted time to complete the test compared with 99.3% for control individuals (P < .001).
• Test-retest reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.914; P < .001); a learning effect was observed with the second test being significantly faster (median, 189.76 seconds vs 198.98 seconds; P < .001).
• Glittre ADL test time showed strong negative correlation with 6MWT distance (correlation coefficient [r] = -0.865; P < .001), strong positive correlation with 5STS duration (r = 0.706; P < .001).
• ROC analysis demonstrated excellent discriminative ability (area under the curve = 0.967; 95% CI, 0.922-1.000; P < .001), with an optimal cutoff of 196.52 seconds showing 97% sensitivity and 82.6% specificity for detecting functional impairment.

IN PRACTICE

"[T]he Glittre ADL test may serve as a practical and comprehensive assessment tool to guide individualized rehabilitation strategies and inform clinical decision-making in patients with AF," the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Onurkan Alkan, Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir, Türkiye. It was published online on July 27 in Open Heart.

LIMITATIONS

The relatively small sample size and single-center design limit applicability of the findings. The younger age and homogeneous AF subtypes may have reduced the ability to detect differences in some measures. Test order was not formally randomized, potentially introducing order effects. The fixed backpack load may not adequately represent differences in physical capacities of individuals.

DISCLOSURES

No specific funding was reported for this study and no relevant conflicts of interest were declared by the authors.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.