Functional Status

Functional status is a common health measure used in both clinical care and research. The general domains of functional status are physical, mental, and sometimes social. Numerous self-report and clinician-rated instruments for measuring functional status exist in the public health literature. Poor functional status has been shown to be associated with chronic medical conditions, comorbidities, age, and mortality. Functional status is a broad term that has come to encompass a number of concepts that can vary with the many different instruments developed for its measurement. Although sometimes used interchangeably, functional status can differ conceptually from health status or quality of life.

Functional status originated as a measure of disability status, but it has come to be commonly used as a health research measure. Some make a ...