From the Guidelines

The primary purpose of the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test is to assess an individual's mobility and fall risk.

The test involves instructing the patient to rise from a chair, walk 3 meters, turn around, walk back to the chair, and sit down 1.
The patient's time to complete the task is recorded, with a time of >12 seconds indicating an increased fall risk 1.

The TUG test is a useful tool for clinicians to identify individuals at high risk of falls and to guide interventions to prevent falls 1.
The test can be used in conjunction with other assessments, such as questionnaires and physical examinations, to comprehensively evaluate an individual's fall risk 1.

The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends using the TUG test as part of a brief risk assessment to identify older adults at increased risk for falls 1.
The test is also recommended by other organizations, such as the American Geriatric Society, as a useful tool for assessing mobility and fall risk in older adults 1.

From the Research

The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test is a widely used assessment tool with several purposes, including:

Assessing lower extremity function, mobility, and fall risk in older adults 2, 3
Evaluating motor challenges, including gait and dynamic balance issues, in children and teenagers with autism spectrum disorder 4
Measuring gait, balance, and fall risk in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) 5
Identifying patients at risk of falling, although its predictive value may be limited 2

Some key characteristics of the TUG test include:

It is a simple, quick, and easy-to-apply tool 4
It measures the time it takes for an individual to get up from a chair, walk, turn around, and sit down again 4
It has good intra-rater and inter-rater reliability, as well as low measurement errors and lack of significant bias 4
It is related to executive function and cognitive resources, particularly in healthy older adults 3

The TUG test has various applications, including:

Clinical assessment of functional mobility in older adults 3
Longitudinal assessment of older adults to identify falls risk 6
Assessment of balance and fall risk in children and teenagers with autism spectrum disorder 4
Evaluation of gait, balance, and fall risk in individuals with TBI 5 However, its limitations include:
Limited ability to predict falls in community-dwelling older adults 2
Potential ceiling effect limitations in high-functioning older adults 6
Need for caution when interpreting results under dual-task conditions 6