Recovery of mobility after hip fracture – a prospective cohort study

Purpose: To investigate characteristics of older adults, who did not regain mobility after hip fracture, and to describe the amount of physiotherapy these groups received the first year after their hip fracture. Design: Prospective cohort study. Material: During hospital stay, and 4 and 12 months after surgery 129 home-dwelling older adults (≥ 70 years) with hip fracture were tested. Method: We classified level of regaining mobility after 12 months by using the mobility scale of Nottingham I-ADL Scale. The relationship between not regained mobility and physical function (Short Physical Performance Battery), cognitive function (Clinical Dementia Assessment and the Norwegian Revised Mini-Mental State Examination), pain during walking (Numeric Rating Scale), fear of falling (Short Falls Efficacy Scale International), depression (Geriatric Depression Scale) and number of physiotherapy consultations based on data from HELFO and municipal journal, was evaluated by logistic regression. Results: Participants’ mean age were 82.8 (±6.26) years and 55% did not regain mobility 12 months after the hip fracture. Physical function at four months was an independent predictor for not regaining mobility (OR 0.68; p<0.001; KI 0.56-0.83). We found large variation in the number of physiotherapy consultations (range 1-98) with median number of 32 consultations within the first year. Conclusion: A large proportion older adults who undergo hip fractures do not regain their prefracture level of mobility. Physical function at four months is important for level of regaining mobility, while the amount of physiotherapy showed no correlation with mobility one year after hip fracture.