Five Functional Classes Identified Among Patients Hospitalized for Pneumonia Characterized by Activity Limitations With Mobility and Self-Care Tasks

Objective

Latent class analysis was used to identify functional classes among patients hospitalized for pneumonia. Then, we determined predictors of class membership and examined variation in distal outcomes among the functional classes.

Design

An observational, cross-sectional study design was used with retrospectively collected data between 2014 and 2018.

Setting

The study setting was a single health system including 5 acute care hospitals.

Participants

A total of 969 individuals hospitalized with the primary diagnosis of pneumonia and receipt of an occupational and/or physical therapy evaluation were included in the study.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcomes

The following 5 distal outcomes were examined: (1) occupational therapy treatment use, (2) physical therapy treatment use, (3) discharge to home with no services, (4) discharge to home with home health, and (5) institutional discharge.

Results

Five functional classes were identified and labeled as follows: Globally impaired, Independent with low-level self-care, Independent low-level mobility, Independent self-care, and Independent. Probability of occupational therapy treatment use (χ²[4]=50.26, P<.001) and physical therapy treatment use (χ²[4]=50.86, P<.001) varied significantly across classes. The Independent with low-level self-care class had the greatest probability of occupational therapy treatment use and physical therapy treatment use. Probability of discharging to home without services (yes/no; χ²[4]=88.861, P<.001), home with home health (yes/no; χ²[4]=15.895, P=.003), and an institution (yes/no; χ²[4]=102.013, P<.001) varied significantly across the 5 classes. The Independent class had the greatest probability of discharging to home without services.

Conclusions

Five functional classes were identified among individuals hospitalized for pneumonia. Functional classes could be used by the multidisciplinary team in the hospital as a framework to organize the heterogeneity of functional deficits after pneumonia, improve efficiency of care processes, and help deliver targeted rehabilitation treatment.