Efficacy and Safety of a Hospital Walking Program for Older Adults

Phase 2

Completed

Conditions: Acute Disease

Interventions: Behavioral: Behavioral intervention
Other: Friendly visits
Other: Walking Intervention

Registration Number: NCT00715962

Lead Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development

Brief Summary: Low mobility, defined as being limited to bed or chair, is common during acute hospitalization. This study will evaluate the impact and safety of a hospital walking program for older patients during acute general medical hospitalization. Participants who are 65 years of age or older, will be randomized to usual care (UC) or to a hospital walking program (WP), which includes twice daily walks with assistance, provision of necessary ambulatory devices, and a behavioral intervention strategy designed to encourage out of bed activity. Throughout hospitalization, the WP and UC veterans will were wireless monitors on the thigh and ankle that measure activity. The primary goal will be in increase the length of time veterans spend out of bed and to assure this out of bed activity is safe.

Detailed Description: Background: Low mobility, defined as being limited to bed or chair, is common during acute hospitalization. The candidate's work has demonstrated low mobility to be associated with adverse outcomes including functional decline, need for new nursing home admission, and death even after controlling for illness severity and comorbidity. Objective: Using a Phase II trial design, the impact and safety of a hospital walking program for older patients during acute general medical hospitalization will be evaluated.

Project Design: 100 patients, age 65 years admitted to the medical wards at the Birmingham VAMC will be recruited within 48 hours of hospitalization and followed for 14 days after enrollment or until discharge, which ever comes first. Exclusion criteria will include: (1) Delirious based on positive Confusion Assessment Method (CAM); (2) Mini Mental State Examination Score \< 17; (3) Patient on isolation; (4) Inability to ambulate 2 weeks prior to admission; (5) Having a medical diagnosis deemed by the primary physician to be a contraindication to ambulation; (6) patient with an imminently terminal illness; and (7) Non-English speaking. Participants will be randomized to either usual care (UC) or to a hospital walking program (WP), which includes twice daily walks with assistance, provision of necessary ambulatory devices, and a behavioral intervention strategy designed to encourage out of bed activity. Throughout hospitalization, the WP and UC veterans will wear on the ipsilateral thigh and ankle wireless monitors that measure horizontal and vertical orientation with respect to gravity. Previously validated by the candidate to assess levels of mobility during hospitalization, the output will be used to calculate the length of time patients spent lying, sitting, and standing or walking, using pre-defined criteria. Other daily measures will include orthostatic blood pressure, functional assessments, and assessment of falls and symptoms over the previous 24-hours. The primary outcome measure is time out of bed as measured by the wireless monitors. Importantly, our goal is to assess not only the amount of mobility that occurred as a result of the hospital walking program but that which occurred beyond the intervention. In our previous VA-funded study, patients spent an average of 17.1% or 4.1 hours out of bed per 24-hour period of time (s.d. 2.9). Our goal is to increase this by 50% or 2 hours to an average of 6.1 hours. This results in an effect size of 0.69 standard deviation units. A sample size of 45 per group provides 90% power to detect this 2-hour difference in the amount of time patients spend out of bed at the = .05 level.

Significance: at present there is a paucity of data regarding the impact or safety of a hospital walking program for general medical patients. Results of this study will enable researchers to determine the safety and efficacy of the walking program for older veterans during hospitalization and will provide information regarding effect size for a definitive intervention trial.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 100

Inclusion Criteria

Age greater or equal to 65 years;
Admitted to the Birmingham VAMC for a medical condition

Exclusion Criteria

Delirious based on positive Confusion Assessment Method (CAM);
Mini-Cognitive Assessment score indicating dementia;
Inability to ambulate 2 weeks prior to admission;
Having a medical diagnosis deemed by the primary physician to be a contraindication to ambulation;
patient with an imminently terminal illness; and
Non-English speaking

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Mobility Group	Behavioral intervention	The Walking Intervention includes assistance to walk twice daily with or without a rolling walker. In addition, a behavioral intervention that included goal setting and discussion of how to overcome mobility barriers was used to encourage the mobility group to be more active throughout hospital stay. Participants will keep a diary of out of bed activity and will be encouraged to set goals for additional out of bed activity daily.
Control Group	Friendly visits	The control group will receive twice daily friendly visits to counter the attention being paid to the intervention group. They will complete a diary but of visitors to their room.
Mobility Group	Walking Intervention	The Walking Intervention includes assistance to walk twice daily with or without a rolling walker. In addition, a behavioral intervention that included goal setting and discussion of how to overcome mobility barriers was used to encourage the mobility group to be more active throughout hospital stay. Participants will keep a diary of out of bed activity and will be encouraged to set goals for additional out of bed activity daily.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Falls	18 months	Patients were asked daily during hospitalization to self-report any falls
Amount of Time Spent Out of Bed as Measured by Wireless Accelerometers	During hospital stay	Throughout the hospital stay, both the WP and UC patient wore a triaxial accelerometer on the ipsilateral thigh and ankle. The patient's skin was assessed regularly to assure there is no evidence of irritation. The wireless monitors were used to quantify the amount of mobility that occurs daily for each patient with researchers being blinded to the outcome.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Life-Space Assessment Score	4-6 weeks after baseline	The UAB Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment (LSA) is a validated tool that measures mobility and function based on the distance which a person reports moving during the four weeks preceding the assessment. Life-space "levels" range from within one's dwelling to beyond one's town. A life-space composite score is calculated based on life-space level, degree of independence in achieving each level, and the frequency of attaining each level. Scores range from 0 - 120 with higher scores indicating greater community mobility.