SynthesisJournal of the American Medical Directors Association2020
Prevalence of Hospital-Associated Disability in Older Adults: A Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 4 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 200 papers, 14 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Help Optimise and Mobilise Elders (H.O.M.E)
Optimizing Prevention of Hospital-acquired Disability Through Integrated Multidomain Interventions: the Age-IT Project
The Effects of a Strength-based Tailored-Exercise Program at Home (STEP@Home) on Health Outcomes of Geriatric Patients at Risk of Hospitalization-associated Functional Decline: A Sequential Mixed-method Study
Discharge Recommendations for Older Adults Using Physical Outcome Measure (DROP)
Who cites it
200 citing papers in PubMed, 14 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 351 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of Frailty on Activities of Daily Living in Hospitalized Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Geriatrics & gerontology international · 2026Pooled it
- Age-friendly hospitals: a concept analysis.BMC geriatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Comparison of hospitalisation settings and exercise interventions in acute care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Age and ageing · 2025Pooled it
- Protection against influenza hospitalizations from enhanced influenza vaccines among older adults: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2024Pooled it
- Nutrition interventions for body composition, physical function, cognition in hospitalized older adults: A systematic review of individuals 75 years and older.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of exercise intervention on physical and health outcomes in patients admitted to an acute medical ward: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical rehabilitation · 2024Pooled it
- Admission avoidance hospital at home.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Perspectives of health professionals on physical activity and sedentary behaviour in hospitalised adults: A systematic review and thematic synthesis.Clinical rehabilitation · 2023Pooled it
- Assessment tools and incidence of hospital-associated disability in older adults: a rapid systematic review.PeerJ · 2023Pooled it
- Exercise for acutely hospitalised older medical patients.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Facilitators and barriers to enhancing physical activity in older patients during acute hospital stay: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Prediction models for the prediction of unplanned hospital admissions in community-dwelling older adults: A systematic review.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Trial
- Effects of a short-term multicomponent functional exercise program on the serum proteome: an exploratory study in hospitalized older adults.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Trial
- Walking Aids and Locomotion Training in the Emergency Department: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- An explorative study on movement detection using wearable sensors in acute care hospital patients.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Feasibility within-subject RCT of neuromuscular electrical stimulation; an Intervention to Maintain and improve neuroMuscular function during period of Immobility (IMMI).European geriatric medicine · 2025Trial
- Surgical versus conservative treatment of odontoid fractures in the elderly: A randomized controlled clinical study (SCORE).PloS one · 2025Trial
140 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesHospital-associated disability (HAD), defined as loss of independence in activities of daily living (ADL) following acute hospitalization, is observed among older adults. The study objective is to determine overall prevalence of HAD among older adults hospitalized in acute care, and to assess the impact of study initiation year in moderation of prevalence.
designMeta-analysis of data collected from randomized trials, quasi-experimental, and prospective cohort studies. English-language searches to identify included studies were completed February 2018 and updated May 2018 of electronic databases and reference lists of studies and reviews. Included studies were human subjects investigations that measured ADL ≥2 time points before or during and after hospitalization and reported prevalence of ADL decline among older adults.
settingAcute care hospital units.
participantsAdults aged ≥65 years hospitalized in medical-surgical acute care; total sample size across all included studies was 7375.
methodsIndependence in ADL was assessed using the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living and Barthel Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living.
resultsRandom effects meta-analysis across included studies identified combined prevalence of HAD as 30% (95% CI 24%, 33%; P < .001). The effect of study initiation year on the prevalence rate was minimal. A large amount of heterogeneity was observed between studies, which may be due in part to nonstandardized measurement of ADL impairment or other methodological differences. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Hospitalization in acute care poses a significant risk to functional independence of older adults, and this risk is unchanged despite shorter lengths of stay. The evidence supports the continued need for hospital-based programs that provide assessment of functional ability and identification of at-risk older adults in order to better treat and prevent HAD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.