Background: As few studies have examined physical functioning changes after cardiac surgery, the factors related to the decline in physical functioning remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the factors related to physical functioning decline after cardiac surgery in older patients. Methods: The final study sample consisted of 523 older (!65 years) patients (age 74.2 AE 6.1 years, 66% male) who underwent cardiac surgery at 8 Japanese institutions. We excluded patients who were unable to walk independently or had a slow gait speed (<0.8 m/s) before surgery, and those who were unable to regain independent walking after surgery. We divided the patients into two groups, a decline-in-gaitspeed group and a non-decline-in-gait-speed group, according to whether their gait speed was less than 0.8 m/s at discharge. We analyzed patients' clinical characteristics to identify the factors that predicted the postoperative decline in gait speed. Results: Eighty-nine patients (17.0%) showed a postoperative decline in gait speed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the following factors predicted a postoperative decline in gait speed: age [odds ratio (OR) 1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.11]; estimated glomerular filtration rate (OR 0.98, CI 0.96-0.99); preoperative gait speed (OR 0.01, CI 0.00-0.08); and the postoperative day on which the patient could walk independently (OR 1.08, CI 1.02-1.14). Conclusions: Physical functioning declined in 17% of patients after surgery. The decline could be predicted by several clinical factors, including some that are modifiable. These results suggest that further interventional research on rehabilitation before and after cardiac surgery for older patients might help overcome the decline in physical functioning.

We aimed to investigate the characteristics of changes in amount of physical activity of patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) before/after endovascular treatment (EVT) combined with exercise training. Twenty-two patients with peripheral arterial disease at stage-II of the Fontaine classification who received EVT combined with exercise training were included in this study. A tri-axial accelerometer was used to record physical activity every day from the day before surgery to 3 months after discharge from hospital. The mean number of walking steps before surgery was 2664 steps (611 steps-5404 steps), whereas those after surgery was 3393 (567 steps-7578 steps). Ankle Brachial Index (from 0.69 to 1.03; p < 0.001), maximum walking distance (from 728.2 to 1271.8 m; p < 0.05) and Vascu-QOL (from 98.9 to 137.9; p < 0.01) showed improvement between before and after surgery. Physical activity of patients with PAD was still low at 3 months after surgery even though walking ability, QOL, and self-efficacy were improved after EVT combined with exercise training. Among the 22 patients, the number of walking steps increased in 17 of them and decreased in 5 of them. Compared with the patients in the increased-steps group, those in the decreased-steps group were significantly older (p < 0.05), and had a significantly higher cardiovascular event rate within the first 3 months after surgery (p < 0.05). These results suggested that, not only the improvement of walking ability, but increase in physical activity after EVT combined with exercise training is also important for short-term prognosis.

This study aimed to determine the effect of hospital-acquired functional decline (HAFD) on prognosis, 1-year post-hospital discharge, of older patients who had undergone cardiac surgery in seven Japanese hospitals between June 2017 and June 2018. This multicenter prospective cohort study involved 247 patients with cardiac disease aged ≥65 years. HAFD was defined as a decrease in the short physical performance battery at hospital discharge compared with before surgery. Primary outcomes included a composite outcome of frailty severity, total mortality, and cardiovascular readmission 1-year post-hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes were changes in the total score and sub-item scores in the Ki-hon Checklist (KCL), assessed pre- and 1-year postoperatively. Poor prognostic outcomes were observed in 33% of patients, and multivariate analysis identified HAFD (odds ratio [OR] 3.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.75–6.72, p < 0.001) and low preoperative gait speed (OR 2.47, 95% CI 1.18–5.17, p = 0.016) as independent predictors of poor prognosis. Patients with HAFD had significantly worse total KCL scores and subscale scores for instrumental activities of daily living, mobility, oral function, and depression at 1-year post-hospital discharge. HAFD is a powerful predictor of prognosis in older patients who have undergone cardiac surgery.

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