Steps parameters of elderly patients hospitalised for an acute medical illness in a Swiss University Hospital: a monocentric observational pilot-study

BACKGROUND: Objective mobility goals for elderly hospitalised medical patients remain debated. We therefore studied steps parameters of elderly patients hospitalised for an acute illness, to determine goals for future interventional trials and medical practice. METHODS: Observational study conducted from February to November 2018 in a medical ward of the Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland. We measured the step parameters of consecutive medical patients aged ≥65 years admitted for an acute medical illness using a wrist accelerometer (Geneactiv). We also collected demographic, somatic and functional factors. RESULTS: Overall, 187 inpatients had their step parameters (daily step count, walking cadence and bout duration) measured with accelerometers worn for a mean of 3.6 days (standard deviation [SD] 3.2). Elderly inpatients (81.5 years, SD 8.5) walked a median of 603 steps daily (interquartile range [IQR] 456–809), at a median cadence of 100 steps/minute (IQR 99–101) with median walking bouts of 33 seconds (IQR 27–37) and with 70% of the walking bouts lasting less than 30 seconds. Patients walking ≥600 steps were younger (80.4 years, SD 8.9 vs 82.8 years,SD 7.9, p = 0.050) and had a longer length of stay (7.8 days, SD 5.1 vs 6.1 days, SD 4.1, p = 0.011) than those walking