Validation Of The Omni-cycle Scale Of Perceived Exertion In The Elderly

Abstract

Psychophysical scales quantifying the exertional perceptions associated with exercise are routinely used in fitness and clinical settings around the world. Over the last decades, the use of these scales, such as the Borg-RPE scale, has been extended to different populations, i.e. children and adolescents. Since the use of an adult formatted perceived exertion scale in populations of different ages raises methodological and semantic issues, the OMNI Scale - Rating of Perceived Exertion (OMNI-RPE) was developed in which pictorial representations match the verbal descriptions of perceived exertion. Available evidence demonstrates that the OMNI-RPE Scale can be reliably used in children (6-13 yrs) and adult populations (18-32 yrs). PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the concurrent and construct validity of the OMNI-Cycle RPE in elderly women and men (>60 yrs). METHODS: Seventy-six, trained elderly men (N = 34) and women (N = 42) were studied. Concurrent validity was determined by correlating OMNI-Cycle RPE with oxygen uptake, ventilation, heart rate, respiratory rate, and respiratory exchange ratio responses to an incremental cycle ergometer protocol. Construct validity was established by correlating RPE derived from the OMNI-Cycle with RPE from the Borg Scale. RPE and physiological responses were measured during each exercise stage on a breath-by-breath basis. RESULTS: The range of average exercise responses across the incremental test for the female and male groups was maximal oxygen uptake = 0.58-1.98 L·min-1, heart rate = 81.6-141.7 beats·min-1, and OMNI-Cycle Scale RPE = 0.6-8.3. Correlation/regression analyses indicated that OMNI-Cycle RPE distributed as a positive linear function for all physiological measures (r2 = 0.56 to 0.70; P < 0.05). OMNI-Cycle RPE was also positively and linearly related to the Borg-RPE Scale in both elderly men and women (r2 = 0.90 and 0.88, respectively; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates both concurrent and construct validity of the OMNI-Cycle RPE Scale in elderly men and women. These findings support the use of this scaling metric by elderly people to estimate RPE during cycle exercise.