Post-fracture Rehabilitation Effects on Brain Function in Older People

[Background] Deterioration of cognitive function is an underlying cause of older people’s fractures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate electroencephalogram and cognitive function in patients hospitalized with fractures, both at admission (before intervention) and at the time of discharge (after intervention), to investigate the effects of rehabilitation on brain function. [Methods] A total of 24 patients hospitalized with fracture due to a fall were enrolled in this study. All the subjects received 140 minutes of rehabilitation every day during hospitalization. Touch Panel-type Dementia Assessment Scale (TDAS) was used to test their cognitive function. In electroencephalography (EEG), the Neuronal Activity Topography (NAT) system was used to calculate the “Alzheimer’s disease (AD) - normal controls (NLc) differential similarity” in sNAT, ie, a numerical index to show the proximity to AD or normal NLc. [Results] There was no significant difference in the total TDAS score among subjects who were examined before and after intervention, but 12 subjects who were observed with deterioration of cognitive functionat at before intervention had a significant improvement in “word-recognition,” a sub-item in TDAS (P < 0.05). In addition, the NAT analysis findings showed that the differential similarity in sNAT significantly approached the NLc pattern (P < 0.05). [Conclusion] EEGs in patients with fractures resulting from a fall became more similar to NL patterns at the time of discharge. In addition, recent-memory function of patients who had decline in cognitive function improved.