Findings Regarding the Relationships Between Sociodemographic, Psychological, Comorbidity Factors, and Functional Status, in Geriatric Inpatients

• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-08939-3_9
• Publication Date: 2014-11-21T12:19:22Z
• Authors: Ana Capisizu; Sorina Aurelian; Andreea Zamfirescu; Ioana Omer; Monica Haras; Camelia Ciobotaru; Liliana Onose; Tiberiu Spircu; Gelu Onose
• Keywords: Aged, 80 and over; Male; Inpatients; Marital Status; Depression; Romania; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Middle Aged; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cardiovascular Diseases; Activities of Daily Living; Linear Models; Educational Status; Humans; Disabled Persons; Female; 10. No inequality; Geriatric Assessment; Aged

To assess the impact of socio-demographic and comorbidity factors, and quantified depressive symptoms on disability in inpatients.Observational cross-sectional study, including a number of 80 elderly (16 men, 64 women; mean age 72.48 years; standard deviation 9.95 years) admitted in the Geriatrics Clinic of "St. Luca" Hospital, Bucharest, between May-July, 2012. We used the Functional Independence Measure, Geriatric Depression Scale and an array of socio-demographic and poly-pathology parameters. Statistical analysis included Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests for ordinal variables, linear bivariate correlations, general linear model analysis, ANOVA.FIM scores were negatively correlated with age (R=-0.301; 95%CI=-0.439 -0.163; p=0.007); GDS scores had a statistically significant negative correlation (R=-0.322; 95% CI=-0.324 -0.052; p=0.004) with FIM scores. A general linear model, including other variables (gender, age, provenance, matrimonial state, living conditions, education, respectively number of chronic illnesses) as factors, found living conditions (p=0.027) and the combination of matrimonial state and gender (p=0.004) to significantly influence FIM scores. ANOVA showed significant differences in FIM scores stratified by the number of chronic diseases (p=0.035).Our study objectified the negative impact of depression on functional status; interestingly, education had no influence on FIM scores; living conditions and a combination of matrimonial state and gender had an important impact: patients with living spouses showed better functional scores than divorced/widowers; the number of chronic diseases also affected the FIM scores: lower in patients with significant polypathology. These findings should be considered when designing geriatric rehabilitation programs, especially for home--including skilled--cares.