Importance

Functional recovery is an important outcome following injury. Functional impairment is persistent in the year following injury for older trauma patients.

Objective

To measure the impact of routine geriatric consultation on functional outcomes in older trauma patients.

Design, setting, and participants

In this pretest-posttest study, the pretest control group (n = 37) was retrospectively identified (December 2006-November 2007). The posttest geriatric consultation (GC) group (n = 85) was prospectively enrolled (December 2007-June 2010). We then followed up both groups for 1 year after enrollment. This study was conducted at an academic level 1 trauma center with adults 65 years of age and older admitted as an activated code trauma.

Intervention

Routine GC.

Main outcomes and measures

The Short Functional Status survey of 5 activities of daily living (ADLs) at hospital admission and 3, 6, and 12 months postinjury.

Results

The unadjusted Short Functional Status score (GC group only) declined from 4.6 preinjury to 3.7 at 12 months postinjury, a decline of nearly 1 full ADL (P < .05). The ability to shop for personal items was the specific ADL more commonly retained by the GC group compared with the control group. The GC group had a better recovery of function in the year following injury than the GC group, controlling for age, sex, race/ethnicity, length of stay, comorbidity, injury severity, postdischarge rehabilitation, complication, and whether surgery was performed (P < .01), a difference of 0.67 ADL abilities retained by the GC group compared with the control group (95% CI, 0.06-1.4).

Conclusions and relevance

Functional recovery for older adults following injury may be improved by GC. Early introduction of multidisciplinary care in geriatric trauma patients warrants further investigation.