Rehabilitation after trauma; does age matter?

Area of Science:

• Trauma Rehabilitation
• Functional Recovery
• Predictive Factors in Medicine

Background:

• Predicting patient recovery after trauma and inpatient rehabilitation presents challenges due to significant variability.
• Identifying key factors that influence functional improvement is crucial for optimizing patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify hospital admission factors that predict functional improvement in trauma patients during inpatient rehabilitation.
• To analyze the relationship between various patient characteristics and their functional gains post-trauma.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort analysis of a prospectively collected database of trauma patients (n=160).
• Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scores were collected at hospital discharge and rehabilitation discharge.
• Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify predictors of delta FIM (change in FIM scores).

Main Results:

• Hospital length of stay and higher head Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) on admission were negative predictors of functional improvement (delta FIM).
• Factors such as age, gender, Glasgow Coma Scale, Injury Severity Score, systolic blood pressure, and ICU length of stay did not predict functional outcome.
• Mean change in FIM scores was 39.4 ± 13, with 29 patients being totally dependent and 131 partially dependent at rehabilitation admission.

Conclusions:

• Age was not an independent predictor of functional outcome in this trauma patient cohort.
• The severity of head injury significantly and negatively impacts overall functional improvement following trauma and rehabilitation.