Does Inpatient Mobilization Predict 1-Year Mortality After Femoral Neck Fracture Treated With Hemiarthroplasty?

OBJECTIVE:To determine whether inpatient mobilization (defined as ambulation before hospital discharge) is associated with 1-year mortality and 90-day hospital readmission in patients treated with a hip hemiarthroplasty for a femoral neck fracture. DESIGN:Retrospective case-control. SETTING:Academic Level 1 trauma center. PATIENTS/PARTICIPANTS:Two hundred twelve consecutive femoral neck fractures were treated with hip hemiarthroplasties with a minimum of 1 year of follow-up. INTERVENTION:All study patients were treated with a hip hemiarthroplasty and weight-bearing as tolerated postoperative day 1. Patients were prescribed daily physical therapy with the goal of mobilization before discharge from hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Mortality at 1 year; hospital readmission within 90 days. RESULTS:Two hundred twelve patients were included in the study. One-year mortality was 29%. One hundred thirty-two (62%) patients were able to ambulate before hospital discharge. Ambulation with physical therapy before discharge from hospital was a significant predictor of 1-year mortality when compared with patients who were unable to ambulate (hazard ratio 0.57; 95% confidence interval, 0.34-0.94; P = 0.03), which equates to 43% reduction in risk of mortality. There was no difference in the 90-day readmission rates for ambulatory versus nonambulatory patients. CONCLUSIONS:Ambulation with physical therapy before discharge reduced the risk of 1-year mortality by 43%, without an effect on 90-day readmission. Sixty-two percentage of our cohort was able to ambulate before discharge. Future investigations are warranted to further identify those patients at heightened risk of mortality and readmission and the role of early rehabilitation in recovery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.