Abizanda 2011.

Study characteristics
Methods	Design: RCTof a short‐term occupational therapy intervention in an acute geriatric unit Date of study: November 2002 to June 2003 Power calculation: yes 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 Frailty: not reported
Interventions	Intervention: occupational therapy intervention 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	Outcomes reported: ‐ Incident delirium, measured daily using CAM ‐ In‐hospital mortality ‐ Length of admission ‐ Activities of daily living (ADL), measured using Barthel index ‐ Adverse events Outcomes not reported: none Frequency of outcomes assessment: daily during hospitalisation
Notes	Funding source: Institute of Health Sciences, Junta de Comunidades de Castilla‐La Mancha. Declarations of interest: quote: "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
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Computerised randomisation system
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Assignment to randomised group by a geriatrician who did not participate in the clinical management of participants
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