Characterization of elderly patients in rehabilitation: stroke versus hip fracture.

Purpose: To compare the characteristics of elderly patients hospitalized for rehabilitation following stroke with those following hip fracture (HF).

Methods: A prospective study in a geriatrics department of a general university hospital in southern Israel. Five hundred and sixteen hospitalized elderly patients were included in the study, 221 following stroke and 295 following HF.

Geriatric Depression Screening Scale (GDS) in patients hospitalized for physical rehabilitation.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of symptoms of depression and the factors affecting their presence in an elderly population at the start of rehabilitation. To assess changes in the severity of these symptoms during rehabilitation and the correlation between these changes and corresponding changes in the patient's functional state.

Design: A population-based prospective study.

Factors affecting the results of the clock drawing test in elderly patients hospitalized for physical rehabilitation.

The Clock Drawing Test (CDT) is a recognized and accepted instrument for the early diagnosis of dementia in the elderly. In a prospective study we evaluated the association between the results of this test and a broad range of clinical, functional and sociodemographic variables. The study was conducted on elderly patients hospitalized for rehabilitation following stroke or hip fracture (HF) in the geriatric ward of a university hospital in southern Israel.