Topic
Functional ability
About: Functional ability is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7416 publications have been published within this topic receiving 235178 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
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Papers
TL;DR: There was no clinically important or statistically significant evidence that exercise therapy can improve functional ability, quality of life, aerobic capacity or pain, and the large heterogeneity in outcome measures emphasises the need for a standardised assessment.
Abstract: Background
Exercise therapy is considered an important component of the treatment of arthritis. The efficacy of exercise therapy has been reviewed in adults with rheumatoid arthritis but not in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).
Objectives
To assess the effects of exercise therapy on functional ability, quality of life and aerobic capacity in children with JIA.
Search methods
The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (The Cochrane Library), MEDLINE (January 1966 to April 2007), CINAHL (January 1982 to April 2007), EMBASE (January 1966 to October 2007), PEDro (January 1966 to October 2007), SportDiscus (January 1966 to October 2007), Google Scholar (to October 2007), AMED (Allied and Alternative Medicine) (January 1985 to October 2007), Health Technologies Assessment database (January 1988 to October 2007), ISI Web Science Index to Scientific and Technical Proceedings (January 1966 to October 2007) and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy website (http://www.cps.uk.org) were searched and references tracked.
Selection criteria
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of exercise treatment in JIA.
Data collection and analysis
Potentially relevant references were evaluated and all data were extracted by two review authors working independently.
Main results
Three out of 16 identified studies met the inclusion criteria, with a total of 212 participants. All the included studies fulfilled at least seven of 10 methodological criteria. The outcome data of the following measures were homogenous and were pooled in a meta-analysis: functional ability (n = 198; WMD -0.07, 95% CI -0.22 to 0.08), quality of life (CHQ-PhS: n = 115; WMD -3.96, 95% CI -8.91 to 1.00) and aerobic capacity (n = 124; WMD 0.04, 95% CI -0.11 to 0.19). The results suggest that the outcome measures all favoured the exercise therapy but none were statistically significant. None of the studies reported negative effects of the exercise therapy.
Authors' conclusions
Overall, based on 'silver-level' evidence (www.cochranemsk.org) there was no clinically important or statistically significant evidence that exercise therapy can improve functional ability, quality of life, aerobic capacity or pain. The low number of available RCTs limits the generalisability. The included and excluded studies were all consistent about the adverse effects of exercise therapy; no short-term detrimental effects of exercise therapy were found in any study. Both included and excluded studies showed that exercise does not exacerbate arthritis. The large heterogeneity in outcome measures, as seen in this review, emphasises the need for a standardised assessment or a core set of functional and physical outcome measurements suited for health research to generate evidence about the possible benefits of exercise therapy for patients with JIA. Although the short-term effects look promising, the long-term effect of exercise therapy remains unclear.
56 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that poor material wealth is associated with functional decline independent of behavioural factors in a selected population of non-disabled older adults, and the cumulative influence of material wealth throughout the life-course cannot be avoided in old age just by a healthy behaviour once you have reached old age.
Abstract: Background: To examine the relation between different aspects of social position and functional decline at 5 year follow-up in 75 year old men and women Methods: The study includes 606 non-disabled 75 year old participants living in Glostrup, Denmark Functional ability was measured by the Mob-H Scale which measures need of help in six common mobility activities Three outcome measures were used: a) functional decline, alive, b) functional decline, including death, and c) death Measures of social position were vocational training, income and tenure Results: Income and tenure which reflect material wealth were related to functional decline and death in both men and women, but the patterns differed: housing tenure was related to functional decline and death among the men, while income was related to functional decline and death among the women The associations were not attenuated when adjusted by behavioural factors Conclusion: The results indicate that poor material wealth is associated with functional decline independent of behavioural factors in a selected population of non-disabled older adults Thus, the cumulative influence of material wealth throughout the life-course cannot be avoided in old age just by a healthy behaviour once you have reached old age
56 citations
TL;DR: In this general, critically ill cohort, weakness at ICU discharge was associated with short-term functional disability and prolonged hospital length of stay, but not with quality of life, which was equivalent to the values for patients without ICUAW within six months.
Abstract: Introduction
Intensive care unit acquired weakness (ICUAW) may contribute to functional disability in ICU survivors, yet performance-based data for general ICU patients are lacking. This study explored functional outcomes of (1) and risk factors for (2) weakness at ICU discharge.
Methods
Data from a randomised controlled trial that investigated two early exercise regimes in previously independent, ventilated adults (n = 115) without any significant outcome-differences were used for the present analysis. ICUAW was clinically diagnosed in cooperative participants (n = 83) at ICU discharge with the Medical Research Council sum-score (MRC-SS) using a cut-off <48 for moderate or <36 for severe weakness. Primary outcomes were the 6-Minute Walk Test and Functional Independence Measure at hospital discharge. Secondary outcomes included health-related quality of life after six months. Risk factors during the ICU stay were explored for their effect on MRC-SS with linear regression.
Results
Functional outcomes and length of hospital stay significantly differed in patients with severe, moderate to no weakness (6-Minute Walk test: p = 0.013; 110m [IQR 75–240], 196m [90–324.25], 222.5m [129–378.75], Functional Independence Measure: p = 0.001; 91[IQR 68–101], 113[102.5–118.5], 112[97–123], length of stay after ICU discharge: p = 0.008; 20.9d [IQR 15.83–30.73], 16.86d [13.07–27.10], 11.16d [7.35–19.74]). However, after six months participants had similar values for quality of life regardless of their strength at ICU discharge (Short-Form 36 sum-scores physical health: p = 0.874, mental health: p = 0.908). In-bed immobilisation was the most significant factor associated with weakness at ICU discharge in the regression models (MRC-SS: -24.57(95%CI [-37.03 to -12.11]); p<0.001).
Conclusions
In this general, critically ill cohort, weakness at ICU discharge was associated with short-term functional disability and prolonged hospital length of stay, but not with quality of life, which was equivalent to the values for patients without ICUAW within six months. Immobilisation may be a modifiable risk factor to prevent ICUAW. Prospective trials are needed to validate these results.
Trial registration
German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) identification number: DRKS00004347, registered on September 10, 2012.
56 citations
TL;DR: The initial characterization of the newly synthesized AGG mimic demonstrates its potential in tissue engineering constructs, and provides an essential basis for more explorative studies of the A GG mimic's abilities as an AGG substitute and beyond.
56 citations
TL;DR: A normative theory of the goals of medicine (a theory that tells us in what respects medicine should benefit the patient) is presented that is both comprehensive and unified and a multidimensional model is constructed.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to present a normative theory of the goals of medicine (a theory that tells us in what respects medicine should benefit the patient) that is both comprehensive and unified. A review of the relevant literature suggests that there are at least seven plausible goals that are irreducible to each other, namely to promote functioning, to maintain or restore normal structure and function, to promote quality of life, to save and prolong life, to help the patient to cope well with her condition, to improve the external conditions under which people live, and to promote the growth and development of children. However, it seems that all these goals need to be qualified in different ways, e.g. it does not seem reasonable to improve physiological function or functional ability unless this is expected to have positive effects on quality of life and/or length of life, or to improve the quality of life in any respect, or by any means. These qualifications all suggest that the proposed goals are, as goals, conceptually, and not just causally, related to one another, and that they should therefore not be regarded in isolation. Instead, we should think of the medical enterprise as having a multidimensional goal structure rather than a single goal. In order to depict clearly how the different goals are related to one another, a multidimensional model is constructed.
56 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 |
| 2021 | 382 |
| 2020 | 401 |
| 2019 | 340 |
| 2018 | 360 |
| 2017 | 389 |