OBJECTIVE : Although physical function is believed to be an important predictor of outcomes in older people, it has seldom been used to adjust for prognosis or case mix in evaluating mortality rates or resource use. The goal of this study was to determine whether patients' activity of daily living (ADL) function on admission provided information useful in adjusting for prognosis and case mix after accounting for routine physiologic measures and comorbid diagnoses.
SETTING : The general medical service of a teaching hospital.PARTICIPANTS : Medical inpatients ( n ؍ 823) over age 70 (mean age 80.7, 68% women). hysical function is believed to be an important predictor of hospital outcomes in older people, yet it has not been used extensively to adjust for prognosis or case mix in evaluating mortality rates or resource use. Most methods of adjusting for prognosis or case mix consider either measures of internal physiologic function, such as laboratory values and vital signs, or principal and comorbid diagnoses. However, measures of integrative functioning, such as physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning, may also be useful for prognostic and case-mix adjustment. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that one example of integrative functioning, physical function, is useful as a measure of prognosis and case mix in elders hospitalized with acute medical illness. Although this hypothesis is supported by previous work demonstrating a relation between functional status and mortality, 1-10 measures of physical function have seldom been used to adjust for prognosis and case mix.
MEASUREMENTS