Activities of daily living in adolescents: a feasibility study

Introduction: For adolescents, activities of daily living (ADL) is evaluated by tests developed for adults in which the activities are not suitable for them. Objective: to describe a feasibility study for ADL tasks in adolescents. Method:6 healthy volunteers (12-17 years old) were evaluated. Ten ADLs were performed in randomized order (four minutes each): raising ramp, shelving, jump star, climbing steps, running, jump rope, kick ball (feet), throwing a ball (hands), cycling, and playing basketball. The VO2peak, minute ventilation(VE), and heart rate(HR) assessed at the peak of each task were the outcomes. The cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) was also performed. Results: the most difficult activity reported was jump star, the easiest was raising ramp. Activities with higher outcomes were jump star VE:45(41–56L/min), VO2:1.6(1.4–1.9L/min), HR:161(147–187bpm) and jump rope VE:41(33–51L/min), VO2:1.7(1.2–1.9L/min), HR:163(141–185bpm). Activities with lower outcomeswere the rise ramp VE:14(12–15L/min),VO2:0.6(0.5–0.8L/min), HR:123(112–141bpm) and throwing ball VE:17(14–20L/min),VO2:0.7(0.6–0.8L/min), HR:105(102–120bpm). Interestingly, the VE of shelving (29(23-45L/min)) seems to be higher than running(23(18–42L/min)), but not statically(p=0.4), with a similar VO2(1.2(1.0–1.5L/min) vs.1.2(0.8–1.7L/min), respectively. The range of VO2 for all ADLs was from 40 to 113% of the CPET. Conclusion: the tasks are feasible, easily to understand, and the ADLs provide consistent physiological responses.