Rehabilitation outcomes of older patients at 6 months follow-up after discharged from a geriatric day hospital (GDH)

Whether rehabilitation outcome can be maintained after discharged from GDH has not been thoroughly investigated. This study was conducted to examine the rehabilitation outcome and its predictors 6 months after discharged from GDH. We studied 418 patients attended a GDH in Hong Kong. All of them had post-6-month assessment. Cognitive status was assessed with Cantonese version of mini-mental state examination (C-MMSE). Functional independence measure (FIM) upon GDH admission (FIM-adm), discharge (FIM-dis) and 6 months after discharge (FIM-p6m) were measured. FIM gain was FIM-dis − FIM-adm while FIM efficiency was FIM gain divided by number of GDH visits. Of the study pool, 164 (39.2%) showed a drop of FIM-p6m. There was a significant drop of FIM-p6m as compared with FIM-dis (p < 0.001). However, the FIM-p6m remained significantly higher than FIM-adm (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that FIM-dis was a negative predictor (p < 0.001) while Parkinsonism was a positive predictor for drop of FIM-p6m (p = 0.008). A proportion of functional gain can still be maintained 6 months after discharged from GDH. More studies are needed to look for strategies in maintaining functional gain in GDH discharged patients, especially those with Parkinsonism.