Effects of the @ctivehip telerehabilitation program on the quality of life, psychological factors and fitness level of patients with hip fracture

Abstract

Introduction Telerehabilitation has emerged in the last decade as a promising alternative to conduct the rehabilitation process at home. However, there are no studies testing the effects of telerehabilitation interventions for patients with hip fracture on quality of life nor psychological factors, whereas the evidence on fitness level is scarce. Thus, the aim of this study is to test the effects of the @ctivehip telerehabilitation program on the quality of life, psychological factors and fitness level of patients who had suffered a hip fracture. Methods The present study is a non-randomized clinical trial that includes patients older than 65 years old with a hip fracture and their family caregivers (ClinicalTrials.gov; Identifier: NCT02968589). Per-protocol (64 participants) and intention-to-treat (71 participants) analyses were performed, the first being the main analysis. The intervention group received a home-based multidisciplinary telerehabilitation intervention, called @ctivehip, that lasted 12 weeks. The control group received the traditional care and rehabilitation provided by the Andalusian Public Health Care System. The outcomes measured were the patients’ quality of life through the EuroQol Quality of Life Questionnaire (EQ-5D), physiological factors (anxiety and depression) using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the fitness level, assessed with the International Fitness Scale. Results The quality of life of the telerehabilitation group increased, while the control group scored worsened at the 3-month follow-up (medium effect size: 0.66 SDs; p  =  0.006). The telerehabilitation group demonstrated a greater decrease than the control group in the total HADS score (medium effect size: −0.50 SDs; p  =  0.015). Lastly, the telerehabilitation group recovered a fitness level close to the pre-hip fracture in comparison with the control group (small effect size: 0.49 SDs; p  =  0.022). Discussion The @ctivehip telerehabilitation program seems to be a promising treatment to improve the quality of life and psychological factors (i.e. anxiety and depression) of older adults after a hip fracture, as well as to recover their previous fitness level.