Factors related to the length of rehabilitation unit stay among elderly patients

Aim: In order to suppress increases in medical costs in Japan, with regard to rehabilitation, it is extremely important to shorten the length of stay at rehabilitation units. Thus, factors related to the length of stay were analyzed in the study. Methods: The subjects of the study were patients who stayed and left the rehabilitation unit at H hospital in Fukuoka, Japan during the period of May 1,2003 and December 31,2004. Of the 236 patients, 167 patients had no missing values with respect to 15 study variables. Thus, these 167 patients were used for analyses. In order to isolate factors related to the length of unit stay, a multiple regression analysis was performed with the length of stay as a dependent variable and other factors as independent variables. Results: Of the 3 types of rehabilitation interventions (i.e., physical, occupational and speech therapies), the quantity of physical therapy was a significant predictor (p<0.05). Conclusion: The findings imply the following. (1) The level of physical activity, which is a target of physical therapy, is used as a criterion for leaving the unit. (2) The three types of rehabilitation interventions highly correlated with one another, and the quantity of physical therapy is greatest Thus, it is possible that only physical therapy could be isolated as a significant predictor. Since the present finding is based upon patients in a single rehabilitation unit, further studies using patients from multiple facilities is necessary.