Daytime Activity Is Associated With Discharge to Home in Older Adults Recovering From Critical Illness.
Maya N Elías, Cindy L Munro, Zhan Liang
PMID 33497446WHAT IT FOUND
Among 30 older adults recently transferred from ICU, daytime activity was 54.42 activity counts/min for those discharged home versus 33.26 activity counts/min for those discharged to a facility.
Nighttime activity did not differ. This was observational, not causal.
Key findings
01Among 28 participants with discharge data, post-ICU daytime activity was greater in those discharged home (54.42 activity counts/min) than in those discharged to a facility (33.26 activity counts/min; t[26] = 2.054, p = 0.050).
02In 25 participants with complete data, higher post-ICU daytime activity was associated with shorter hospital length of stay after adjusting for covariates (b = -0.322, p = 0.041).
03Nighttime activity did not differ by discharge disposition and was not significantly associated with hospital length of stay (p = 0.066).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 30 participants were enrolled; 28 had discharge data, and only 25 had complete data for the regression analysis. The activity observation was short: one daytime period and two nighttime periods. The study was exploratory, and the authors state that the design does not imply causality. The daytime activity difference between discharge groups had p = 0.050, and the discharge comparison was not adjusted for covariates because the sample was small. Eight participants received three or more doses of opioids and/or benzodiazepines during the observation period, which may have affected activity levels. Participants were English-speaking, functionally independent before admission, and excluded for dementia, imminent death, active palliative care or hospice orders, and spinal cord injury, so the findings may not apply to more impaired or palliative patients.
Declared interests
The authors disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing daytime activity will cause patients to go home or shorten their stay. This was a small observational study, the daytime activity difference was p = 0.050, and the authors state the design does not imply causality.