RESULTS
Characteristics
Table 1 shows the demographic and clinical characteristics
of the sample. Mean age was 76. .6, range 65–100);
55.1% were female and 62.8% non-Hispanic white. Mean
length of hospitalization was 4.9 2.4 days. Forty-seven
percent had a BMI in the normal to overweight range
(22–29 kg/m2). A majority (57.4%) reported being mobility
independent 2 weeks before hospitalization. Cardiopulmonary
conditions (34.5%) were the most common diagnostic
category. ‘‘Moderate’’ (44.4%) was the most common rating
from the 4-level APR-DRG illness severity index, followed
by ‘‘major’’ (34.2%), ‘‘minor’’ (14.5%), and
‘‘extreme’’ (6.8%).
There were a total of 708 days of observation for the
239 patients. On 50% of observation days, patients took
fewer than 300 steps, on 12.9% of observation days, patients
took no steps, and on only 1% of days patients took
more than 4,100 steps.
Mean daily steps were 739.7 (IQR 89–1,014; median
468). Mean daily minutes of ambulatory activity were 57.6
(IQR 12–86; median 42.6). For each 24-hour day, 57.6