The Impact of Frailty on Post-Acute Rehabilitation Outcomes in Older Adults

Objective, Design, Measurements: We assessed the correlations of the Frailty Instrument for primary care of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-FI on admission: non-frail, pre-frail, frail) with the outcomes of a Short-term Post-Acute Rehabilitative Care programme (N=172 admissions over one-year period, 95 of which were frail).

SHARE-FI correlated with age (non-frail: mean 79.2 years; frail: 83.6; P<0.001). Adjusting for age, SHARE-FI correlated with longer length of stay (non-frail: median 30 days; frail: 42; P=0.047), higher rate of emergency transfer to acute hospital (non-frail: 2.4%; frail: 21.1%; P=0.004), and lower home discharge rate (non-frail: 97.6%; frail: 81.9%; P=0.009). While frailty correlated with more disability on admission and discharge, there was no statistically significant difference in Barthel Index (BI) improvement across frailty categories (all groups had median BI improvement of ≥2 points, P=0.247).

The post-acute rehabilitation of the frail is worthwhile but requires more time and access to acute hospital facilities.