Can usual gait speed be used as a prognostic factor for early palliative care identification in hospitalized older patients? A prospective study on two different wards

Table 1 Basic descriptive statistics of the study participants expressed as number (%) or median (range)

			Acute geriatric ward n = 62 (MMSE n = 57)	Cardiology ward n = 80 (MMSE n = 10)	p-value
Age (years)	75–79		3 (4.8%)	23 (28.7%)	0.002
	80–84		19 (30.6%)	23 (28.7%)
	85–89		19 (30.6%)	22 (27.5%)
	90–94		17 (27.4%)	10 (12.5%)
	95–100		4 (6.5%)	2 (2.5%)
Sex	female		47 (75.8%)	37 (46.3%)	0.000
Residence	home		50 (80.6%)	76 (95.0%)	0.054
	short term stay in non-acute setting		5 (8.1%)	2 (2.5%)
	nursing home		7 (11.3%)	2 (2.5%)
Nutritional status	BMI (kg/m2)		25 (15–44)	25 (14–49)	0.021
Nutritional status	NRS total score		1 (0–4)	1 (0–4)	0.003
Frailty	GRP		4 (0–6)	2 (0–5)	0.467
	Functionality	Katz total score	13 (6–23)	7 (6–20)	0.002
	Functionality	iADL (Lawton)	2 (0–7)	5 (0–7)	0.003
	Cognition	MMSE	22 (10–30)	23 (19–28)	0.124
Comorbidity	CACI		9 (4–15)	7 (3–15)	0.785
Length of stay in hospital			15.00 (1–91)	5.00 (1–34)	0.002
In-hospital mortality			1 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0.254

GRP Geriatric Risk profile score, a modified and translated version of the triage risk screening tool (TRST), range 0–6, high score = high risk [32]; Katz evaluation scale for functional independence, range 6–24, high score = high dependency [33]; iADL Lawton instrumental Activities of Daily Living, range 0–7, high score = independence [34]; NRS Nutritional Risk Screening, range 0–4, high score = poor nutritional status [31]; MMSE Mini Mental State Examination, range 0–30, < 24/30 is an indicator of possible memory problems [35]; CACI Charlson Age-Comorbidity Index, a combination of age and a measure of comorbidity to predict the risk of mortality, high score = higher risk to die [36]

ISSN: 1471-2318