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Updated: Aug 21, 2026
Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
Published on: September 30, 2020
Activities of daily living decrease similarly in hospital-treated patients with a hip fracture or a vertebral
Eva Theander1, Gun-Britt Jarnlo, Ewald Ornstein
1Department of Orthopaedics, Hässleholm Hospital, Hässleholm, Sweden.
Aims:
A hip fracture is commonly regarded as the most devastating fragility fracture, as regards both morbidity and mortality, while a vertebral fracture is usually regarded as having lower general morbidity. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether hospitalized patients with a hip or a vertebral fracture experience similar functional deterioration following the fracture as regards activity of daily living (ADL) and experienced quality of life (QOL).
Methods:
Eighty-seven women and 22 men, mean age 81 (range 66-96), with a hip fracture and 34 women and 8 men, mean age 81 (range 68-92), with a vertebral fracture were followed up for 12 months. ADL before fracture and at 4 and 12 months after the fracture were evaluated as well as QOL at 4 and 12 months after the fracture, by questionnaires.
Results:
A hip and a vertebral fracture in community dwellers within the same age range confers a similar decrease in ADL during the four months following the fracture. No restoration was seen in ADL or total QOL during the year following the fracture. Patients with a vertebral fracture had a lower QOL than patients with a hip fracture 4 and 12 months after the fracture.
Conclusion:
The need for external community assistance for patients with a vertebral fracture that forces them to have hospital treatment may be similar to the need following a hip fracture.
