How did rehabilitation professionals act when faced with the Great East Japan earthquake and disaster? Descriptive epidemiology of disability and an interim report of the relief activities of the ten Rehabilitation-Related Organizations.

Objective: Inter-organizational coordination is important for rehabilitation disaster relief. The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Disaster was unprecedented, being geographically widespread and multifaceted. Faced with the crisis, rehabilitation professionals established the 10 Rehabilitation- Related Organizations of Rehabilitation Support Service (10-RRO). The objectives of this paper are to provide descriptive epidemiology and assess the activities of 10- RRO. Design: Descriptive. Methods: Epidemiological data on disability were collected, mainly from official sources. Relief activities were reviewed from daily reports, and the preparedness, initial response and functioning of 10-RRO were assessed with a questionnaire directed at 36 executives of individual organizations. Results: The disaster was characterized by a very low ratio of injuries to death of 0.372, and an odds ratio of deaths among disabled persons of 2.32. 10-RRO provided relief activities at 3 shelters. The total number of dispatch days ranged from 107 to 146, and the cumulative number of professionals and evacuees served was 1,202 and 7,300, respectively. Support activities included prevention of immobilization, daily life support, environmental improvement and transition to temporary housing. The questionnaire survey revealed poor preparedness, satisfactory initial response and support activities, and problems of data collection and advocacy. Conclusion: The disaster was characterized by minimal trauma and a great need for preventing immobilization. This first collaborative endeavour was successful

Global Policy Barriers and Enablers to Exercise and Physical Activity in Kidney Care

Objective: Impairment in physical function and physical performance leads to decreased independence and health-related quality of life in people living with chronic kidney disease and end-stage kidney disease. Physical activity and exercise in kidney care are not priorities in policy development. We aimed to identify global policy-related enablers, barriers, and strategies to increase exercise participation and physical activity behavior for people living with kidney disease. Design and Methods: Guided by the Behavior Change Wheel theoretical framework, 50 global renal exercise experts developed policy barriers and enablers to exercise program implementation and physical activity promotion in kidney care. The consensus process consisted of developing themes from renal experts from North America, South America, Continental Europe, United Kingdom, Asia, and Oceania. Strategies to address enablers and barriers were identified by the group, and consensus was achieved. Results: We found that policies addressing funding, service provision, legislation, regulations, guidelines, the environment, communication, and marketing are required to support people with kidney disease to be physically active, participate in exercise, and improve health-related quality of life. We provide a global perspective and highlight Japanese, Canadian, and other regional examples where policies have been developed to increase renal physical activity and rehabilitation. We present recommendations targeting multiple stakeholders including nephrologists, nurses, allied health clinicians, organizations providing renal care and education, and renal program funders. Conclusions: We strongly recommend the nephrology community and people living with kidney disease take action to change policy now, rather than idly waiting for indisputable clinical trial evidence that increasing physical activity, strength, fitness, and function improves the lives of people living with kidney disease

Chronic Kidney Disease is a New Target of Cardiac Rehabilitation

Chronic heart failure is increasingly prevalent worldwide and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The Cochrane review demonstrated that cardiac rehabilitation (CR) resulted in improvements in QOL and a reduction in long-term mortality. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is another worldwide public health problem. This review focuses on the importance and efficacy of rehabilitation for CKD patients as a new target of CR. Patients with CKD on hemodialysis (HD) have a high mortality rate, with cardiovascular diseases, such as chronic heart failure. A new systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials reported that exercise-based renal rehabilitation improved aerobic capacity, muscular functioning, cardiovascular function, walking capacity, and QOL in CKD patients with HD. Moreover, exercise training may have renal protective effects, not only in some animal models of pre-HD CKD, but also in pre-HD CKD patients. Exercise therapy could be an effective clinical strategy in improving renal function, lowering the need for renal replacement therapy, such as HD, and reducing renal transplant risk in pre-HD CKD patients. This led the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan to extend renal rehabilitation partial coverage to stage 4 pre-HD CKD patients for the first time in the world in 2016

Recent Advances in Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

Pulmonary rehabilitation is important to prevent complications in critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) who are on mechanical ventilation. However, the effectiveness and adverse events related to pulmonary rehabilitation for patients in the ICU are largely unclear because of the diversity of diseases and various levels of severity in this situation. This review aims to clarify the evidence currently available for pulmonary rehabilitation in critically ill adult patients requiring mechanical ventilation, with a focus on positioning and early mobilization. Prone positioning (PP) does not seem to benefit adults with hypoxemia mechanically ventilated in the ICU. However, it improved survival among patient subgroups like those enrolled within 48 h of meeting the trial entry criteria, those treated with PP for ≥16 h per day, and those with severe hypoxemia at trial entry. PP using the protective lung ventilation strategy for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome was associated with reduced mortality. On the other hand, PP may cause pressure sores and tracheal tube obstruction. The semi-recumbent position may prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia with no adverse events. Early mobilization (EM) enhances mobility status and muscle strength and increases days of life and out of the hospital for up to 6 months; it also shortens the duration of delirium. The main adverse events with EM are hemodynamic changes and desaturation. Therefore, medical staff should carry out pulmonary rehabilitation for patients in the ICU, given the effectiveness and adverse events. Future studies should identify diseases that would benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation and optimize the method

Effects of Adachi Rehabilitation Programme on older adults under long-term care: A multi-centre controlled trial.

ObjectivesWe developed the Adachi Rehabilitation Programme (ARP), a community rehabilitation program. Under the supervision of professional caregivers, older adults cleaned and planted flowers in the park and they walked and shopped in the community. We examined the effects of ARP on individuals receiving small-group multifunctional at-home care at community facilities.MethodsThis was a multi-centre controlled trial at thirteen small multifunctional at-home care facilities in Adachi, Tokyo. The primary outcomes of the study were daily step counts and timed up & go (TUG). Secondary outcomes included gait speed, step length, Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living, Functional Independence Measure, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and EuroQOL 5 Dimension.ResultsNinety-six individuals at thirteen small multifunctional at-home care facilities were recruited for participation in December 2017. They were allocated to intervention (38) and control (40) groups. The average daily step count of the control group decreased from 852 to 727, but it increased by approximately 650 steps, from 990 to 1635, for the intervention group. Average TUG decreased from 16.1 s to 14.0 s and MMSE score increased from 15.9 to 16.3 for the intervention group, but a significant interaction was not found. On non-intervention home days, the daily step counts of the intervention group increased significantly from 908 steps to 1485 steps, while those of the control group decreased from 865 steps to 722 steps.ConclusionsARP may have effectively increased the physical activity of older adults under long-term care by increasing motivation and changing behaviour