Article

OBJECTIVES: To classify hospitalized older patients with slow gait speed, and
test the hypothesis that slow gait speed or dismobility is associated with
increased mortality risk.
DESIGN: Prospective study.
SETTING: Acute care
geriatric hospital unit. PARTICIPANTS: Older patients (N=289) admitted to a
geriatric hospital unit. INTERVENTION: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Two-year survival determined by medical record review and a search of the
National Death Index. RESULTS: Most of the older patients were women (61.6%) and
non-Hispanic white (72.3%).
A total of 213 older patients (73.7%) had gait speeds
</=0.6 m/s and were classified with dismobility; 17% (49/289) of the sample died
during the 2-year follow-up. All but 5 deaths occurred in older patients with
dismobility. Older patients with dismobility were more than 2.5 times as likely
to die than those with gait speeds >.60 m/s (hazard ratio, 2.60; 95% confidence
interval, 1.01-6.77), after adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, and
comorbidity. CONCLUSIONS: A simple and quick screen for gait speed was evaluated
in this study of hospitalized older patients. A clinical classification of
dismobility could provide the inpatient health care team with meaningful
information about the older patients' underlying health conditions and future
prognosis, and provides an opportunity to discuss and implement treatment options
with patients and their families.
CI - Copyright (c) 2015 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS