Physical activities in elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia after hip fractures
The present study aimed to investigate changes in physical activities during acute hospitalization in hip fracture patients with aspiration pneumonia. The medical records of 20 hip fracture patients (7 males, 13 females; mean age, 84.8 ± 7.6 years) with aspiration pneumonia were retrospectively reviewed. Moreover, the pneumonia group was divided into two groups (9 preoperative pneumonia, 11 postoperative pneumonia). Twenty hip fracture patients (8 males, 12 females; mean age, 82.2 ± 6.4 years) without comorbid pneumonia were randomly selected as a control group that was matched for sex and age. Patients’ physical activities (ability to transfer from bed to wheelchair and to walk) before the fractures and at the time of discharge from the acute care wards were extracted from the medical records. Mean physical activity levels and mean decreases in physical activities were compared using the Functional Independence Measure version 3.1. The mean levels of the ability to transfer and walking ability at the time of discharge from the acute care wards decreased significantly in all groups and were significantly lower in the pneumonia groups than in the control group, with no differences between the preoperative and postoperative pneumonia groups. These results suggest that aspiration pneumonia might be significantly associated with decreased physical activities in hip fracture patients.
