Characterization of Cancer Patients in Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Jacqueline M Mix, Carl V Granger, Michael J LaMonte and 5 others
PMID 28161317WHAT IT FOUND
Cancer patients in inpatient rehabilitation gained an average of 23.5 points on an 18 to 126 functional independence scale, and 72% went to community rather than acute care.
It did not compare them with cancer patients who did not receive inpatient rehabilitation.
Key findings
01Cancer patients in inpatient rehabilitation gained an average of 23.5 FIM points from admission to discharge.
02About 72% of cancer patients were discharged to a community setting and 16.5% to acute care.
03Patients with digestive cancers had the largest average FIM gain (26.9 points), and blood and lymphatic cancer patients had the lowest community discharge (62%) and highest acute care discharge (28.4%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
This is a retrospective database study without a comparison group of cancer patients who did not receive inpatient rehabilitation, so it cannot show that rehabilitation caused the gains. The analysis was limited to variables collected on the IRF-PAI, so cancer stage, grade, primary versus metastatic status, and treatment details were not available. The type, frequency, and duration of rehabilitation therapy were not recorded, so outcomes cannot be linked to specific therapies. The sample was mostly white (79%), which may limit generalizability to other racial and ethnic groups. Patients who died during the stay, were discharged against medical advice, or had impairments unrelated to cancer were excluded, so the findings apply only to cancer patients who met the inpatient rehabilitation inclusion rules. Most patients were walking at admission (81%), so the results may not reflect the most severely disabled cancer patients. Acute care discharge was recorded, but the study could not tell whether those discharges were planned for cancer treatment or unplanned.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 23.5-point gain as proof that inpatient rehabilitation caused it. This is a retrospective cohort without a comparison group of patients who did not receive inpatient rehabilitation, and cancer stage, treatment, and therapy details were not available.