Association between the amount of rehabilitation and the outcomes in patients with aspiration pneumonia

Abstract

The appropriate amount of rehabilitation for aspiration pneumonia remains unknown. We conducted a historical cohort study to investigate the association between the amount of rehabilitation provided and the outcome of patients with aspiration pneumonia. A total of 4148 patients with aspiration pneumonia recruited from a database created by JMDC were categorized into three groups based on daily rehabilitation units: none or <1 unit (low-volume group), 1–2 units (medium-volume group), and more than 2 units (high-volume group). The main outcome measures were death in the hospital, discharge home, and length of hospital stay. The results showed that the middle-volume and high-volume groups had significantly fewer in-hospital deaths [middle-volume group, odds ratio (OR) 0.62; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.46–0.83; high-volume group, OR 0.66; 95% CI, 0.45–0.97], more patients were discharged home (middle-volume group, OR 1.29; 95% CI, 1.03–1.62; high-volume group, OR 2.00; 95% CI, 1.48–2.71), and shorter hospital stay (middle-volume group, coefficient −3.30; 95% CI, −6.42 to −0.19; high-volume group, coefficient −4.54; 95% CI, −8.69 to −0.40) compared with the low-volume group. In conclusion, higher rehabilitation units per day provided to patients with aspiration pneumonia were associated with fewer deaths, more home discharges, and shorter hospital stays.