Is rehabilitation effective in preventing decreased functional status after community-acquired pneumonia in elderly patients? Results from a multicentre, retrospective observational study

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to evaluate the effect of rehabilitation in preventing decreased functional status (FS) after community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in elderly patients. DESIGN: This was a retrospective observational study. SETTING: Multicentre study was conducted in two medical facilities from January 2016 to December 2018. PARTICIPANTS: Hospitalised patients with CAP aged over 64 years were enrolled. FS was assessed by the Barthel Index (BI) (range, 0–100, in 5-point increments) at admission and before discharge and graded into three categories: independent, BI 80–100; semidependent, BI 30–75; and dependent, BI 0–25. Multivariable analysis of factors contributing to decreased FS was conducted with two groups: with a decrease of at least one category (decreased group) or without a decrease of category (maintained group). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the effect of rehabilitation in preventing decreased FS. The secondary outcomes were factors associated with decreased FS. RESULTS: The maintained and decreased groups included 400 and 138 patients, respectively. A high frequency of rehabilitation therapy was observed in the decreased group (189 (47.3%) vs 104 (75.4%); p<0.001). Multivariable analysis showed that the factors affecting FS were aspiration pneumonia, Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) category V, length of stay and age (OR 2.66, 95% CI 1.58 to 4.49; OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.29 to 3.44; OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.07; and OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.09, respectively). After adjusting for factors contributing to decreased FS, rehabilitation showed a limited effect in preventing decreased FS in 166 matched pairs by McNemar’s test (p=0.327). CONCLUSIONS: Aspiration and PSI played important roles in reducing FS. The effect of rehabilitation remains unclear in CAP. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: UMIN000046362.