Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jul 9;19(1):189.
doi: 10.1186/s12877-019-1201-4.

Early inpatient rehabilitation for acutely hospitalized older patients: a systematic review of outcome measures

Patrick Heldmann  1 , Christian Werner  2   3 , Nacera Belala  4 , Jürgen M Bauer  2   3 , Klaus Hauer  2
Affiliations

Early inpatient rehabilitation for acutely hospitalized older patients: a systematic review of outcome measures

Patrick Heldmann et al. BMC Geriatr. .

Abstract

Background: Selecting appropriate outcome measures for vulnerable, multimorbid, older patients with acute and chronic impairments poses specific challenges, which may have caused inconsistent findings of previous intervention trials on early inpatient rehabilitation in acutely hospitalized older patients. The aim of this review was to describe primary outcome measures that have been used in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on early rehabilitation in acutely hospitalized older patients, to analyze their matching, and to evaluate the effects of matching on the main findings of these RCTs.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, and PEDro databases. Additional studies were identified through reference and citation tracking. Inclusion criteria were: RCT, patients aged ≥65 years, admission to an acute hospital medical ward (but not to an intensive medical care unit), physical exercise intervention (also as part of multidisciplinary programs), and primary outcome measure during hospitalization. Two independent reviewers extracted the data, assessed the methodological quality, and analyzed the matching of primary outcome measures to the intervention, study sample, and setting. Main study findings were related to the results of the matching procedure.

Results: Twenty-eight articles reporting on 24 studies were included. A total of 33 different primary outcome measures were identified, which were grouped into six categories: functional status, mobility status, hospital outcomes, adverse clinical events, psychological status, and cognitive functioning. Outcome measures differed considerably within each category and showed a large heterogeneity in their matching to the intervention, study sample, and setting. Outcome measures that specifically matched the intervention contents were more likely to document intervention-induced benefits. Mobility instruments seemed to be the most sensitive outcome measures to reveal such benefits.

Conclusions: This review highlights that the selection of outcome measures has to be highly specific to the intervention contents as this is a key factor to reveal benefits attributable to early rehabilitation in acutely hospitalized older patients. Inappropriate selection of outcome measures may represent a major cause of inconsistent findings reported on the effectiveness of early rehabilitation in this setting.

Trial registration: PROSPERO CRD42017063978 .

Keywords: Acute care; Aged; Exercise; Hospitalization; Outcome measures; Rehabilitation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow chart of study selection
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Buurman BM, Hoogerduijn JG, de Haan RJ, Abu-Hanna A, Lagaay AM, Verhaar HJ, Schuurmans MJ, Levi M, de Rooij SE. Geriatric conditions in acutely hospitalized older patients: prevalence and one-year survival and functional decline. PLoS One. 2011;6(11):e26951. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zisberg A, Shadmi E, Sinoff G, Gur-Yaish N, Srulovici E, Admi H. Low mobility during hospitalization and functional decline in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2011;59(2):266–273. - PubMed
    1. Martínez-Velilla N, Cadore E, Casas-Herrero Á, Idoate-Saralegui F, Izquierdo M. Physical activity and early rehabilitation in hospitalized elderly medical patients: systematic review of randomized clinical trials. J Nutr Health Aging. 2016;20(7):738–751. - PubMed
    1. Fortinsky RH, Covinsky KE, Palmer RM, Landefeld CS. Effects of functional status changes before and during hospitalization on nursing home admission of older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1999;54(10):M521–M526. - PubMed
    1. Brown CJ, Friedkin RJ, Inouye SK. Prevalence and outcomes of low mobility in hospitalized older patients. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004;52(8):1263–1270. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources