Geriatrics

Barthel Index

The Barthel Index (Mahoney & Barthel 1965) measures functional independence in activities of daily living across ten domains (feeding, bathing, grooming, dressing, bowels, bladder, toilet use, transfers, mobility, stairs), yielding a total of 0–100. Higher scores reflect greater independence: 0–20 total dependence, 21–60 severe, 61–90 moderate, 91–99 slight dependence, and 100 independence. It is widely used in stroke, rehabilitation, and geriatric care, including the Shah 1989 modification for ordinal scoring.