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. 2016 Mar 11;2016(3):CD005563. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD005563.pub3

Abizanda 2011.

Methods Design: Randomised controlled trial of a short‐term occupational therapy intervention in an acute geriatric unit
Date of study: November 2002 to June 2003
 Power calculation: Yes
 Frequency of outcomes assessment: Daily during hospitalisation
Inclusion criteria: All patients aged 65 and over consecutively admitted to the acute geriatric unit with an acute medical illness or exacerbation of existing chronic condition
 Exclusion criteria: None reported
Participants Number in study: 400
Country: Spain
 Setting: One acute geriatric unit
Age: Mean age 83.7 years (SD 6.1) in intervention group, 83.3 years (SD 6.5) in control group
Sex: 43.4% male in intervention group, 43.1% male in control group
 Co‐morbidity: Number of previous chronic conditions 3.8 in intervention group, 3.5 in control group
 Dementia: 35.3% in intervention group, 31.4% in control group
Interventions Intervention: Occupational therapy intervention (OTI) schedule consisted of a daily 45‐minute session with patient and relative/caregiver Monday‐Friday for the duration of admission. Activities were carried out according to needs and day of admission. Therapeutic plan included: cognitive stimulation; instruction on preventing complications including immobility, confusion, falls, urinary incontinence, pressure sores; retraining in ADL; assessment of technical aids for home.
Control: All participants received medical treatment, nursing care, physical therapy and social assistance.
Outcomes 1. Incident delirium, measured using CAM
2. Length of admission
3. Activities of daily living (ADL), measured using Barthel index
4. In‐hospital mortality
5. Adverse events
Notes Funding source: Institute of Health Sciences, Junta de Comunidades de Castilla‐La Mancha.
Declarations of interest: "All authors declare that there is not any personal, financial or potential conflict of interest, and therefore have nothing to declare."
Delirium excluded at enrolment
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Low risk Assignment to randomised group by a geriatrician who did not participate in the clinical management of participants
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Low risk Computerised randomisation system
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) 
 All outcomes High risk The geriatricians caring for the patients and providing their routine care were blinded to allocated group. Participants were not blinded due to the nature of the intervention.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk Outcome assessor and the individual performing data analysis were blinded
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk Number with missing data are balanced between groups and there do not appear to be any systematic differences between the groups.
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Low risk No changes were made to trial outcomes after the trial was initiated
Other bias Low risk No evidence of other bias