Health and social interventions to restore physical function of older adults post-hip fracture: a scoping review

Despite inpatient rehabilitation, many older adults post-hip fracture have difficulty returning to their prefracture levels of function and activity. This scoping review aims to identify interventions for community-dwelling older adults discharged from inpatient rehabilitation and examine the function and activity outcomes associated with these interventions.

This scoping review followed Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage framework.

We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE and Ageline electronic databases for English-language articles published between January 1946 and January 2020.

We included studies with health and social interventions involving community-dwelling older adults and their caregivers after hip fracture and inpatient rehabilitation. The interventions were selected if initiated within 60 days post-hip fracture surgery.

Two independent reviewers screened abstracts and full texts and extracted the data based on the inclusion criteria. A third reviewer adjudicated any disagreement and collated the extracted data.

Of the 24 studies included in the review, most studies (79%) used exercise-based interventions, over half (63%) included activities of daily living training and/or home assessment and environment modification as intervention components, and three studies used social intervention components. Over half of the interventions (58%) were initiated in the inpatient setting and physiotherapists provided 83% of the interventions. Only seven studies (29%) involved tailored interventions based on the older adults' unique needs and progress in exercise training. Six studies (25%) enrolled patients with cognitive impairment, and only one study examined caregiver-related outcomes. Exercise-based interventions led to improved function and activity outcomes. 29 different outcome measures were reported.

While exercise-based multicomponent interventions have evidence for improving outcomes in this population, there is a paucity of studies, including social interventions. Further, studies with standardised outcome measures are needed, particularly focusing on supporting caregivers and the recovery of older adults with cognitive impairment.