BACKGROUND: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the short- and long-term effect of exercise therapy on physical function, independence and wellbeing in older patients following hip fracture, and secondly, whether the effect was modified by trial level characteristics such as intervention modality, duration and initiation timepoint. METHODS: Medline, CENTRAL, Embase, CINAHL and PEDro was searched up-to November 2020. Eligibility criteria was randomized controlled trials investigating the effect of exercise therapy on physical function, independence and wellbeing in older patients following hip fracture, initiated from time of surgery up-to 1-year. RESULTS: Forty-nine studies involving 3,905 participants showed a small to moderate effect of exercise therapy at short term (end of intervention) on mobility (standardized mean difference, SMD 0.49, 95%CI 0.22 to 0.76); activities of daily living (ADL) (SMD 0.31, 95%CI 0.16 to 0.46); lower limb muscle strength (SMD 0.36, 95%CI 0.13 to 0.60); balance (SMD 0.34, 95%CI 0.14 to 0.54). At long term (closest to 1-year), small to moderate effects were found for mobility (SMD 0.74, 95%CI 0.15 to 1.34); ADL (SMD 0.42, 95%CI 0.23 to 0.61); balance (SMD 0.50, 95%CI 0.07 to 0.94) and Health related Quality of Life (HRQoL) (SMD 0.31, 95%CI 0.03 to 0.59). Certainty of evidence was evaluated using GRADE ranging from moderate to very low, due to study limitation and inconsistency. CONCLUSION: We found low certainty of evidence for a moderate effect of exercise therapy on mobility in older patients following hip fracture at end-of-treatment and follow-up. Further, low evidence was found for small to moderate short-term effect on ADL, lower limb muscle strength and balance. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CRD42020161131.
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