Time to surgery and rehabilitation resources affect outcomes in orthogeriatric units

To compare the pathways of care and clinical results for patients admitted for hip fracture (HF) in 3 orthogeriatric co-managed care centers in order to estimate the effect of system factors on mortality and functional outcome.

Prospective inception multicenter cohort study.

Three tertiary Hospitals.

806 patients consecutively admitted with HF.

1-Year mortality, the loss of 1 or more functional abilities in activities of daily living (ADLs), and the recovery/maintenance of independent ambulation at 6 months from the fracture.

On the whole sample, 71.1% of patients survived 1 year from the fracture. In one hospital the risk of 1-year mortality was significantly higher even after adjusting for age, sex, comorbidity, prefracture functional status and cognitive impairment (odd ratio (OR) 1.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-2.18, p=0.01). This was principally explained by a longer time to surgery (5.2 days ± 3.2 vs 2.7 ± 2.3 and 2.7 ± 2.2, p<0.001). The three hospitals also differed in the rate of subjects losing the ability in ADLs after 6 months from the fracture (54.2%, 61%, 43.5%, p=0.016), while no statistical differences were found in the recovery of independent ambulation. On the basis of multivariate models, a lower access to post-acute rehabilitation could account for lower outcome in functional status.

This study suggests that system factors such as time to surgery and rehabilitation resources can affect functional recovery and 1-year mortality in orthogeriatric units and they could explain different outcomes when comparing care models.