Post-Hospital Syndrome — An Acquired, Transient Condition of Generalized Risk

Patients who were recently hospitalized experience a period of generalized risk for myriad adverse health events. Their condition may be characterized as a post-hospital syndrome, an acquired condition of vulnerability not necessarily linked to the original illness. To promote successful recovery after a hospitalization, health care professionals often focus on issues related to the acute illness that precipitated the hospitalization. Their disproportionate attention to the hospitalization's cause, however, may be misdirected. Patients who were recently hospitalized are not only recovering from their acute illness; they also experience a period of generalized risk for a range of adverse health events. Thus, their condition may be better characterized as a post-hospital syndrome, an acquired, transient period of vulnerability. This theory would suggest that the risks in the critical 30-day period after discharge might derive as much from the allostatic . . .