Clinical Trial: Mobility Assessment Using Surrogates in Elderly Participants

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Observational

Official Title: Mobility Assessment Using Surrogates in Elderly Participants

Brief Summary: The purpose of this research study is to find out if mobility (the ability to move around) can be reliably assessed by having the family or care giver caregiver take a video based test for the patient. If this study shows that mobility can be assessed by family or caregiver, this information can be used in situations where mobility cannot be measured directly in patients. A total of 60 patients and 60 family/caregivers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center will take part in this study. Patients physical function will be assessed using a test that uses short movie clips to assess mobility. Patients will be asked to watch ten short (~10 seconds each) movie clips that describe various tasks such as climbing up hills or walking and estimate if they can perform the tasks. The familymember/caregiver will be also asked to answer the questions on behalf of the patient. The family member/caregiver will be asked to return to take the same test in the next 1-14 days. The patient will be in the study for one day. There is no intervention, this is observational.

Detailed Summary:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau projections, the number of persons 65 years of age or older will increase from roughly 40 million in the year 2010, to 88.5 million in 2050, a net increase of 121%. During this same time period, the number of persons 85 years of age or older will increase by 227%; accounting for nearly 5% of the U.S. population. Mobility and functional status are important predictors of outcomes in this rapidly growing elderly population. It has shown that walking speed and physical function, measured by Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) are predictors of mortality in community-dwelling older men and women. It was also reported that gait speed predicts incident disability in community dwelling elderly subjects. In our prior study, we have demonstrated that, mobility, assessed using an animated video clip based assessment tool, Mobility Assessment Tool-short form (MAT-sf) predicts postoperative complications, length of stay and nursing home placement in elderly patients (>69) who were undergoing elective surgery that requires overnight hospitalization and more clinical practices use physical function and mobility as a tool to predict outcomes.

However, these assessments are not always readily available, especially in clinical situations when acute illnesses or injuries occurred without any chance to assess the baseline status, such as acute myocardial infract, rapidly progressing sepsis or catastrophic trauma. In these cases, patients are often sedated, intubated, have altered mental status, or too unstable to perform even non-invasive testing. Although some clinicians or researchers feel that surrogate can accurately assess the patients' baseline physical function and mobility status, it was never been tested.

The investigators hypothesize that mobility assessment done on surrogates, using MAT
Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Current Primary Outcome: Change in MAT-sf score between patients and surrogates [ Time Frame: 1-14 days ]

Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome:

Original Secondary Outcome:

Information By: Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Dates:
Date Received: January 18, 2017
Date Started: January 17, 2017
Date Completion: December 2017
Last Updated: March 7, 2017
Last Verified: March 2017