Orthostatic blood pressure measurements as predictors of recovery after hospitalization

Failure to recover from blood pressure decline in the first minute after active standing up is associated with all-cause mortality in geriatric outpatients. We aimed to study if recovery times upon an orthostatic challenge and blood pressure variability could predict recovery outcomes of hospital admission in geriatric inpatients. In this talk, the results of an observational prospective study of 121 patients hospitalized in the geriatric ward (aged 84.3 ± 6.2 years, 60% female) will be presented. During the hospital stay, blood pressure and heart rate were monitored during a 7-minute orthostatic challenge test using a Finometer (Finapres). Heart rate and blood pressure variance, temporal autocorrelation, and recovery times will be related to the level of functional recovery measured with the TOPICS-MDS questionnaire or death (n=32) at 3-months follow-up. This work contributes to the development of clinically relevant and feasible dynamic tests of physical resilience.