• Anna Zisberg, Efrat Shadmi, Nurit Gur-Yaish, Orly Tonkikh, and Gary Sinoff.
• Cheryl Spencer Department of Nursing, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Israel.
• J Am Geriatr Soc. 2015 Jan 1; 63 (1): 55-62.

ObjectivesTo investigate the combined contribution of processes of hospitalization and preadmission individual risk factors in explaining functional decline at discharge and at 1-month follow-up in older adults with nondisabling conditions.DesignProspective cohort study.SettingInternal medicine wards in two Israeli medical centers.ParticipantsSix hundred eighty-four individuals aged 70 and older admitted for a nondisabling problem.MeasurementsFunctional decline was measured according to change in modified Barthel Index from premorbid to discharge and from premorbid to 1 month after discharge. In-hospital mobility, continence care, sleep medication consumption, satisfaction with hospital environment, and nutrition intake were assessed using previously tested self-report instruments.ResultsTwo hundred eighty-two participants (41.2%) reported functional decline at discharge and 317 (46.3%) at 1 month after discharge. Path analysis indicated that in-hospital mobility (standardized maximum likelihood estimate (SMLE) = -0.48, P < .001), continence care (SMLE = -0.12, P < .001), and length of stay (LOS) (SMLE = 0.06, P < .001) were directly related to functional decline at discharge and, together with personal risk factors, explained 64% of variance. In-hospital mobility, continence care, and LOS were indirectly related to functional decline at 1 month after discharge through functional decline at discharge (SMLE = 0.45, P < .001). Nutrition consumption (SMLE = -0.07, P < .001) was significantly related to functional decline at 1 month after discharge, explaining, together with other risk factors, 32% of variance.ConclusionIn-hospital low mobility, suboptimal continence care, and poor nutrition account for immediate and 1-month posthospitalization functional decline. These are potentially modifiable hospitalization risk factors for which practice and policy should be targeted in efforts to curb the posthospitalization functional decline trajectory.© 2015, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2015, The American Geriatrics Society.

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