# Symptoms of older orthopedic and rheumatic patients: A telephone survey about symptoms, symptom communication, treatment and further support after hospital discharge

## TL;DR

This study explores the symptoms and care needs of older patients with orthopedic or rheumatic conditions after hospital discharge, finding that many symptoms go unreported and untreated.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into symptom communication and treatment gaps in older multimorbid patients post-hospitalization.

## Key findings

- Patients reported an average of 6 symptoms, most of which existed before hospitalization.
- 28% of symptoms were not communicated to healthcare providers or others.
- 19% of the most impairing symptoms received no treatment.

## Abstract

In older multimorbid orthopedic and rheumatic patients, data on symptoms besides pain or reduced mobility are rarely published.

We investigated patients’ perspectives on their symptoms after hospital discharge.

Orthopedic and rheumatic patients aged over 70 years were asked via telephone interviews about (i) their symptoms, (ii) communication, (iii) treatment, and (iv) support.

(i) The 60 participants (35 women and 25 men) reported a median of 6 (min-max: 1–14) different symptoms, of which 86% (356 of 415) had existed before hospitalization, (ii) patients did not communicate 28% (117) of symptoms to either healthcare professionals, family or friends and (iii) 52 (87%) patients desired improvement. Of the 280 most impairing symptoms, 19% (52) were not treated at all. (iv) Almost all patients (59; 98%) considered it easy to obtain support.

Remarkably, many symptoms were not communicated or treated despite the patients having been hospitalized.

The online version of this article (10.1007/s00391-022-02155-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.