• Rıdvan Aktan, Hayriye Yılmaz, İsmail Demir, and Sevgi Özalevli.
• Department of Physiotherapy, Izmir University of Economics, Vocational School of Health Services, Sakarya St. No: 156, 35330, Balcova, Izmir, Turkey. ridvanaktan@gmail.com.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2023 Oct 1; 192 (5): 217321782173-2178.

BackgroundThe globalization of healthcare systems, and the aim to lower healthcare costs have all contributed to the growth of telehealth technology in recent years. However, before these systems are put into use, their efficacy should be verified. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study focusing on the evaluation of functional exercise capacity using the 30-s sit-to-stand (30-s STS) test as a tele-assessment method in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).AimsThe purpose of the study is to investigate the level of agreement between tele-assessment and face-to-face assessment of 30-s STS test in patients with T2DM.MethodsFifty participants performed two times 30-s STS tests separated by 1 h: a face-to-face and an Internet-connected video call examination (tele-assessment). Two physiotherapists conduct these evaluations; each was blinded to the other. The order of the evaluations was designated at random for each participant and physiotherapist.ResultsThere was a good level of agreement between tele-assessment and face-to-face assessment of the 30-s STS test (mean differences = 0.20 ± 0.88, limits of agreement = 1.93 to - 1.53). Excellent interrater reliability was found for scores of the 30-s STS test [ICC = 0.93 (95% CI: 0.88; 0.96)]. In addition, all before and after test parameters show that there was a very good interrater reliability (ρ ≥ 0.75).ConclusionsThis study shows a good level of agreement between tele-assessment and face-to-face assessment of the 30-s STS test. Our study's findings indicate that tele-assessment is a potential application to determine the level of physical capacity remotely in patients with T2DM.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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