Functional outcomes of cancer patients in an acute inpatient setting at King Fahad Medical City.
Amani A AlJohi, Safanah AlSaeed
PMID 35291471WHAT IT FOUND
Mobility and quality-of-life scores rose from admission to discharge among 99 hospitalized adults receiving standard inpatient physical therapy.
Without a control group, the paper cannot show therapy caused the change.
Key findings
01Mobility and quality-of-life scores improved from admission to discharge among the 99 patients analysed.
02Most patients improved on mobility (62.6%) and quality-of-life (66.7%) measures, though some declined or stayed the same.
03More PT sessions and discharge home were associated with better discharge mobility and quality-of-life scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
There was no control group, so change cannot be attributed to physical therapy alone. It was a single-centre study, so results may not apply to other hospitals. Of 157 eligible patients, 58 were excluded for incomplete data, leaving 99 analysed. The paper did not report the types, frequency, or duration of therapy received. Only patients suitable for inpatient rehabilitation were included, so more disabled or less stable patients were not represented.
Declared interests
Funded by the Research Center at King Fahad Medical City (Grant number; IRF 018-071). The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that physical therapy caused the improvements. The study had no control group, and patients received individualized exercise, functional and gait training, discharge education, and usual hematology or oncology care.