Can usual gait speed be used as a prognostic factor for early palliative care identification in hospitalized older patients? A prospective study on two different wards.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Timely palliative care in frail older persons remains challenging. Scales to identify older patients at risk of functional decline already exist. However, factors to predict short term mortality in older hospitalized patients are scarce.

Methods

In this prospective study, we recruited patients of 75 years and older at the department of cardiology and geriatrics. The usual gait speed measurement closest to discharge was chosen. We used the risk of dying within 1 year as parameter for starting palliative care. ROC curves were used to determine the best cut-off value of usual gait speed to predict one-year mortality. Time to event analyses were assessed by COX regression.

Results

On the acute geriatric ward (n = 60), patients were older and more frail (assesse

SUBMITTER: Van de Vyver C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7687723 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature