Effects of a home-based rehabilitation program in community-dwelling older people after discharge from hospital: A subgroup analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

The subgroup analysis was not planned before the trial started, and the subgroups were relatively small, so the study has limited statistical power. The analyses were not adjusted for multiple testing, so some positive subgroup findings could be chance results. The sample was mostly women, so the results may not represent men equally well. In the mild mobility restriction subgroup, control participants had a longer hospital stay than intervention participants (18 vs 9 days, P=0.035). Adherence to the exercise program was low in the severe mobility restriction subgroup (42%). The authors state this likely means the intervention was too demanding for that group. The authors state the study is exploratory and does not provide sufficient evidence on which to base clinical decisions. The intervention was multi-component, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, the National Institute for Health and Welfare, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health for the Kuopio University Hospital Catchment Area, and the Finnish Association of Physiotherapists. The funders had no role in the design, methods, subject recruitment, data collection, analysis or preparation of the manuscript.

Do not read the positive moderate mobility subgroup result as proof that the home-based rehabilitation program works after hospital discharge. The main trial result was null. The subgroup analysis was not planned before the trial started, had small subgroups, and was not adjusted for multiple comparisons. The intervention was multi-component, so the finding does not identify a single effective part.