Feasibility of perioperative exercise on in older surgical patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The assessment of the feasibility of a home based post-operative exercise training programme targeting physical and cognitive function in older patients undergoing major body surgery.
IRAS ID
194914
Contact name
John Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, days
Research summary
Frailty is a geriatric syndrome which refers to a lack of physiological reserve resulting in increased susceptibility to stressors such as acute illness and surgery. It is established as an independent risk factor for morbidity, mortality and increased length of stay in hospital and can lead to a reduced quality of life for the individual. As such the assessment of frailty is important, it can enable vulnerable patients to be recognized early so that additional supportive measures can be implemented. Further to this, interventions which can ameliorate the severity of an individual’s frailty are currently the focus of much attention as these can positively impact the patient's well being, reducing the likelihood of cognitive and functional decline. In turn this has a positive impact on health service provision reducing hospital length of stay, morbidity and mortality.
Sarcopenia describes the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength and as such is a key component of frailty. A means by which frailty can be targeted is through the use of exercise interventions, to address sarcopenia. The focus of this research is to determine whether by implementing an exercise programme in the recovery period following open colorectal surgery, physical function can be improved with a positive impact on frailty, post-operative outcome and patient well-being.
The study will involve participant's over the age of 70 years undergoing major cavity open intra-abdominal surgery. The exercise programme will begin in the immediate post-operative period and will continue for 6 months. The exercise programme takes into account the physical constraints of surgery and is easily achievable at the bedside.
Also we hope that through the tools used as part of this project, we will be able to find a simple reliable measure of frailty that can be used peri-operatively and potentially predict outcome.
REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EE/0137
Date of REC Opinion
19 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion