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A systematic review and meta-analysis: Assessment of hospital walking programs among older patients
Christine Loyd1,2, Yue Zhang1, Tara Weisberg2
1Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, UAB School of Medicine, University of Alabama, Alabama, Birmingham, USA.
Aim:
The aim of this study is to assess effect of hospital walking programs on outcomes for older inpatients and to characterize hospital walking dose reported across studies.
Design:
A systematic review and meta-analysis examining impact of hospital walking and/or reported walking dose among medical-surgical inpatients. For inclusion, studies were observational or experimental, published in English, enrolled inpatients aged ≥ 65 yrs hospitalized for medical or surgical reasons.
Methods:
Searches of PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, NICHSR, OneSearch, ClinicalTrials.gov, and PsycINFO were completed in December 2020. Two reviewers screened sources, extracted data, and performed quality bias appraisal.
Results:
Hospital walking dose was reported in 6 studies and commonly as steps/24 hr. Length of stay (LOS) was a common outcome reported. Difference in combined mean LOS between walking and control groups was -5.89 days. Heterogeneity across studies was considerable (I2 = 96%) suggesting poor precision of estimates. Additional, high-quality trials examining hospital walking and patient outcomes of older patients is needed.
