Physical activity levels and patients' expectations of physical activity during acute general medical admission

Abstract

Bedrest during hospital admission is common and might be harmful. There is scarce published evidence that quantifies physical activity levels and expectations regarding physical activity of general medical patients during an acute inpatient stay. The current study aimed to investigate physical activity levels and expectations regarding physical activity in general medical patients at a large Australian teaching hospital. A convenience sample of 24 general medical patients was observed at 10-min intervals in one day between 8:00 and 17:00 and their physical activity status recorded. Participants completed a questionnaire regarding their expectations of physical activity during illness and hospital admission. Patients were observed to be in bed 51% of the time, were sitting out of bed 43% of the time, were standing 1% of the time and were walking 5% of the time. One third of participants (n = 8) were not observed to walk during the observation period. Questionnaire data indicated that nine (38%) participants expected to remain in bed while in hospital. General medical patients had low levels of physical activity during their hospital stay, which was consistent with many participants' expectations of appropriate activity when in hospital. If physical activity is an important part of acute general medical patient management, then patient expectations of the appropriateness of physical activity need to be addressed and methods to increase physical activity implemented.

Changes in physical activity during hospital admission for chronic respiratory disease

“…The need to get patients moving more in hospital has long been advocated, but PA remains low, with inpatients spending approximately 87% of time lying down, minimal improvement seen during the stay and patients remaining inactive after discharge . However, conclusions are limited due to small sample sizes in reported studies and heterogeneity in PA data processing, including how many days and for how long each day individuals are required to wear an activity monitor in order to obtain representative data.…”

A randomized controlled trial of the effect of supervised progressive cross-continuum strength training and protein supplementation in older medical patients: the STAND-Cph trial

“…Therefore, it is unfortunate that for many older adults (+65) hospitalization is linked with an increased risk of mobility limitations, functional decline and loss of independence [3][4][5] partly due to preventable events like excessive bed rest or low levels of mobility [6][7][8][9][10]. Nevertheless, older adults spend the majority of their in-hospital time in bed [8,[11][12][13][14][15].…”

Physical activity during hospitalization: Activities and preferences of adults versus older adults

“…Sixty-eight percent of Dutch individuals aged under 65 years and 58% of individuals aged 65 years and older (Hildebrandt, Bernaards, and Hofstetter, 2015) met the public health recommendations for physical activity in 2014 (i.e., engagement in physical activity at a moderate intensity level at least 30 min on at least 5 days weekly) (Kemper, Ooijendijk, and Stiggelbout, 2000). However, according to several accelerometry and direct observational studies, older adult hospitalized patients spend 51-83% of their time in bed and sit 13-43% of the time; furthermore, these patients stand or walk only 36% of the time (Callen et al, 2004;Cattanach, Sheedy, Gill, and Hughes, 2014;Pedersen et al, 2013). Moreover, only a few patients aged 80 years and older with the ability to walk actually walk in the hallways during hospitalization (Callen et al, 2004).…”