TUESDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Use of a standard short-form questionnaire to assess cognitive dysfunction after hip fractures may help predict mortality and the ability to walk and perform daily living activities, according to the results of a study published in the October issue of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
Anita Soderqvist, R.N., of the Stockholm Soder Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues found that hip fracture patients with severe cognitive dysfunction (a score of less than three on the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire) and male patients had an increased risk of dying during the first year after sustaining a hip fracture. Patients with severe cognitive dysfunction had a mortality rate of 48 percent at one year, compared with 18 percent among those who scored higher than three on this test. Study participants had an average age of 84 and were evaluated at four and 12 months.
Patients who scored less than three were also more likely to have difficulty walking and performing activities of daily living. In fact, 36 percent were confined to a wheelchair and close to 40 percent were totally dependent for their daily living functions at the final evaluation.
"The results of this study and previous ones on hip fracture patients strongly suggest that the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire can be recommended for wide clinical use," the researchers conclude.
Some authors received payments or benefits from Stryker Howmedica or Swemac.
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