Decreased Bed Mobility Function Is Associated With Postdischarge Mortality for Cancer Patients in Inpatient Rehabilitation.
Ishan Roy, Julia Marks, Julia Fram and 2 others
PMID 38377051WHAT IT FOUND
Cancer patients who leave rehab with low bed mobility scores or little improvement are three times more likely to die within six months.
This simple bedside measure predicts mortality better than admission scores and works independently of overall physical function.
Key findings
01Discharge bed mobility FIM score and gain in bed mobility FIM score were significantly lower in patients who died within 6 months.
02Patients with a discharge bed mobility FIM score less than 3 had three times the odds of mortality compared to those scoring 3 or higher.
03Higher discharge bed mobility FIM scores were independently associated with lower odds of mortality when compared against other motor function items.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
This was a retrospective study at a single facility, so it cannot prove that poor bed mobility causes death. Patients with brain or spinal cord cancer were excluded, so these findings do not apply to them. The study relied on scores given by rehabilitation specialists, so it is unclear if other clinicians can assess bed mobility accurately. Bed mobility stopped being an independent predictor when age and cancer type were included in the analysis, suggesting these factors are also critical.
Declared interests
No specific funding or conflict of interest statements were provided in the text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume bed mobility is a better predictor than age or cancer stage. While it predicted mortality on its own, that independent link disappeared when the researchers added demographic and cancer-specific factors to the model.