Relationship among Activities of Daily Living, Nutritional Status, and 90 Day Readmission in Elderly Patients with Heart Failure

Purpose: This investigation aimed to examine the relationship among activities of daily living (ADL), nutritional status and 90-day hospital readmission in elderly heart failure (HF) patients. Methods: Participants were selected from 634 HF patients consecutively hospitalized at one institution. We investigated patient characteristics, ADL (motor and cognitive items of Functional Independence Measure (FIM)) and nutritional status (Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI)). Data were analyzed using unpaired t-test, χ2 test, Cox proportional hazard model, and Kaplan-Meier method. Results: The 169 participants that met inclusion criteria were divided into two groups based on hospital readmission within 90 days of discharge. Body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.03), hemoglobin (p = 0.047), GNRI (p = 0.02) and motor-FIM (p = 0.007) were significantly different between the readmission (n = 31) and non-readmission (n = 138) groups. After Cox proportional hazard model analysis, GNRI (HR: 0.96; p = 0.048) and motor-FIM (HR: 0.97; p = 0.03) scores remained statistically significant. Participants were then classified into four groups based on a previous study’s cut-off values of prognosis for GNRI and motor-FIM. Readmission avoidance rate was significantly lower (p = 0.002) in the group with GNRI <92 and motor FIM <75. Conclusions: This study showed that motor-FIM and GNRI scores for hospitalized elderly HF patients were predictors of readmission within 90 days of discharge.