Affiliations: Department of Rehabilitation and Aged Care "Ancelle
della Carità" Hospital, Cremona, Italy | Geriatric Research Group Brescia, Brescia, Italy | University Tor Vergata, Rome and Geriatric Research Group Brescia, Brescia, Italy
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Giuseppe Bellelli, MD, Department of
Rehabilitation and Aged Care Unit, Ancelle della Carità hospital, 26100
Cremona, Italy. Tel.: +39 0372 535 711; Fax: +39 0372 535 7700; E-mail:
bellelli-giuseppe@ancelle.it
Abstract: The objective of the present prospective observational study is to
evaluate the effect of depressive symptoms on 1-year mortality in a population
of elderly patients discharged from a rehabilitation unit after orthopaedic
surgery of the lower limbs. A total of 222 elderly inpatients were included,
and stratified according to 12-months survival. 14 (6.3%) of the patients
who were eligible for this study died during the 12-months period after
discharge. As expected, patients who died were significantly older, lower
cognitive performance, more depressive symptoms, poorer nutritional status and
higher comorbidity in comparison to those who survived. Furthermore, they were
generally more functionally dependent on admission to the Department, had worse
functional recovery and were more disable at discharge, although a longer
length of stay comparing to survived patients. In the adjusted logistic
regression model, after adjustment for possible confounders and covariates, the
presence of severe depressive symptoms significantly predicted a four-fold risk
of death at 12 months. The only other factor associated poor 12-months survival
was comorbidity, that predicted a 6-fold risk of death. In conclusions this
study suggests that severe depressive symptoms on admission predicts 1-year
mortality in elderly patients discharged from a post-acute care unit after
orthopaedic rehabilitation.
