Hip fracture patients were selected for rehabilitation using a prognostic scheme created by multiple linear discriminant analysis. The outcome of positive or negative rehabilitation prognosis was depicted graphically against time. The majority of patients (77%) who had been admitted from their own homes had a good prognosis, and 84% of them returned home within 2 months. The optimum rehabilitation time for patients with a negative prognosis was reached 4 months post-fracture, by which time most of them had either returned to their own or to an old people's home. Although the majority (84%) from the latter had a negative prognosis, more than half (53%) were rehabilitated within 2 months. Prognosis-determined rehabilitation was found to be effective. Cost efficient management of the increasing number of fractures in the elderly demands short hospitalization and minimum institutional reconvalescence.
Aged Aged, 80 and over