Effect of Early Rehabilitation by Physical Therapists on In-hospital Mortality After Aspiration Pneumonia in the Elderly

Abstract Objective To clarify the effect of early rehabilitation by physical therapists on in-hospital mortality among elderly patients with aspiration pneumonia. Design A retrospective cohort study. Setting A total of 1161 acute-care hospitals across Japan. Participants Consecutive patients (age, 70–100y) (N=68,584) from July 2010 to March 2012 in the Japanese Diagnosis Procedure Combination inpatient database with aspiration pneumonia on admission who underwent early physical therapist–guided rehabilitation (n=16,835) and who did not undergo rehabilitation administered by physical therapists (n=51,749). Interventions Early rehabilitation was defined as physical rehabilitation administered by a physical therapist, initiated within 3 days of admission, and undertaken for at least 7 days. Main Outcome Measure Thirty-day in-hospital mortality. Results The 30-day in-hospital mortality rates were 5.1% and 7.1% in the early rehabilitation group and the control group, respectively. The multivariable logistic regression model showed that the early rehabilitation group had a significantly lower in-hospital mortality rate (odds ratio, .71; 95% confidence interval [CI], .64–.79; P