Interaction effects between rehabilitation and discharge destination on inpatients' functional abilities

A patient's functional ability after hospital discharge may be influenced by in-hospital rehabilitation and discharge destination. However, we know very little about how in-hospital rehabilitation intervention interacts with the type of discharge destination or how this interaction influences patients' functional abilities. Thus, how an interaction between in-hospital rehabilitation and discharge destination influences a patient's subsequent functional ability was examined. This was a cross-sectional study whose participants were inpatients who underwent rehabilitation between February 2008 and December 2010 at a hospital in Japan (n = 835). Participants were categorized into three condition groups (i.e., stroke, orthopedic, disuse syndrome). Then, interaction effects between the rehabilitation therapy and the type of discharge destination on a patient's subsequent functional ability were estimated by hierarchical linear regression analysis in each of the three subgroups. In models where the dependent variable was Functional Independence Measure (FIM) score at 3 mo after hospital discharge, a significant interaction between rehabilitation potential (a measure based on the FIM effectiveness measure) and discharge destination (home or other) was observed in the stroke and orthopedic patients (both p < 0.001). These findings may be useful in deciding on discharge destinations for patients.