Cutoff Value for a Nutritional Indicator Related to Gait Independence in Elderly Fracture Patients: A Preliminary Study

Objective: Previous studies have reported the relationship between nutritional status and gait independence in elderly fracture patients. However, the degree to which nutritional indicators are related to gait independence is unclear. The purpose of this study is to calculate a cutoff value for a nutritional indicator related to gait independence in patients with hip and vertebral compression fractures. Method: This study included 69 patients (33 hip fracture, 36 vertebral compression fracture) who underwent rehabilitation at a convalescent rehabilitation ward. The relationships between nutritional indexes (Mini-Nutritional Assessment-Short Form MNA^Ⓡ-SF] and skeletal muscle mass index SMI] ) at admission and gait independence at discharge were analyzed using logistic regression. In addition, receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to calculate a cutoff value that predicts gait independence. Results: Among the nutritional indicators used in this study, only MNA^Ⓡ-SF was significantly able to predict gait independence at discharge, and this association was maintained, even after adjustment for confounders. The calculated MNA^Ⓡ-SF cutoff values were 5.5 (sensitivity 100%, specificity 46.3%) and 7.5 points (sensitivity 67.9%, specificity 78.0%). Conclusion: This study suggests that MNA^Ⓡ-SF may be an index for predicting gait independence in patients with hip or vertebral compression fractures in the convalescent rehabilitation ward. The cutoff values calculated in this study were simple and useful index for physical therapists to interpret the results of MNA^Ⓡ-SF.