Physical activity by elderly patients undergoing inpatient rehabilitation is low: an observational study.

QUESTION Are there differences in physical activity between older adults undergoing inpatient rehabilitation and those living in the community? Are there differences in physical activity within and between these two groups on weekdays compared to weekends? Are there differences in physical activity within and between these two groups over the day? DESIGN An observational study. PARTICIPANTS Twenty-five elderly patients (aged 81 years) undergoing rehabilitation and 25 age- and gender-matched community-dwelling people (aged 80 years). OUTCOME MEASURES The Positional Activity Logger was used to measure the frequency and duration of time spent upright (uptime), over three consecutive days, including a weekend day. RESULTS The inpatient group achieved a median daily uptime of 1.3 hours which was significantly less than the community group's median of 5.5 hours (p < 0.001). Uptime for inpatients was significantly greater on weekdays (1.6 hours) when therapy was available than on weekend days (1.1 hours) when therapy was generally not available (p < 0.001), whereas uptime for community participants was no different on weekdays (5.9 hours) than on weekend days (4.8 hours) (p = 0.05). Median uptime was significantly less for the inpatient group than for the community group at all times of day (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Elderly patients undergoing rehabilitation spend much of the day less physically active than their community peers.