Functional Recovery of Elderly Patients Hospitalized in Geriatric and General Medicine Units. The PROgetto DImissioni in GEriatria Study

• Autores: Lorenzo Palleschi, Walter de Alfieri, Bernardo Salani, Filippo Luca Fimognari, Alberto Marsilii, Andrea Pierantozzi, Luigi di Cioccio, Stefano Maria Zuccaro
• Localización: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, ISSN 0002-8614, Vol. 59, Nº. 2, 2011, págs. 193-199
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • OBJECTIVES: To investigate the characteristics of patients who regain function during hospitalization and the differences in terms of functional outcomes between patients admitted to geriatric and general medicine units.

    DESIGN: Multicenter, prospective cohort study.

    SETTING: Acute care geriatric and medical wards of five Italian hospitals.

    PARTICIPANTS: One thousand forty-eight elderly patients hospitalized for acute medical diseases.

    MEASUREMENTS: Functional status 2 weeks before hospital admission (baseline), at admission, and at discharge, as measured using the Barthel Index (BI).

    RESULTS: Geriatric patients were older (P<.001) and had lower preadmission functional levels (P<.001) than medical patients. Between baseline and discharge, 43.2% of geriatric and 18.9% of medical patients declined in physical function. In the subpopulation of 464 patients who had declined before hospitalization (between baseline and admission), 59% improved during hospitalization (45% of geriatric and 75% of medical patients), whereas only approximately 1% declined further. High baseline function (odds ratio (OR)=1.03, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.02\u20131.04, per point of BI) and greater functional decline before hospitalization (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.94\u20130.97, per % point of BI decline) were significant predictors of in-hospital functional improvement; type of hospital ward and age were not.

    CONCLUSION: Although geriatric patients have overall worse functional outcomes, in-hospital functional recovery may be frequent even in geriatric units, particularly in patients with greater preadmission functional loss and high baseline level of function.