Functional recovery after hip fracture in the subacute setting.

OBJECTIVE

To measure functional recovery after hip fracture in the subacute setting.

BACKGROUND

There are over 340,000 hip fractures that occur in the United States annually. Three out of five hospitalizations attributable to injury among persons over 75 were for fractures. Greater than 50% were hip fractures.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to describe the functional recovery after hip fracture in the subacute setting utilizing performance-based measures (PBMs).

METHOD

This is a prospective observational cohort.

DATA ANALYSIS

Descriptive statistics were used for baseline characteristics. Repeated measures analysis using a Bonferroni correction was utilized to compare admission and discharge PBM scores.

RESULTS

Eighty residents were enrolled in the study, of which seven were withdrawn because of medical complications and one subject died within 1 week of admission. Data were analyzed for 72 subjects. There were 59 women and 13 men ranging in age from 63-99. Mean age was 85.3. The patients' profiles were as follows: 53% lived alone, 63% were Medicare recipients, 50% used an assistive device before hip fracture, 46% sustained a femoral neck fracture, 57% underwent a bipolar hemiarthroplasty, 90% received epidural anesthesia, and 90% had a weight-bearing status as weight-bearing was tolerated. The PBM results are as follows: [table: see text]

CONCLUSION

There was a significant improvement between admission and discharge TUG test, Tinetti gait and balance test, and 6MW test scores in patients who underwent surgical repair of a hip fracture after a fall.