[Elderly patients at a medical department. Their functional capacity upon admission as a predictor of a long stay in the hospital].
Data were recorded on mental function, urinary continence, ability to dress, falls, mobility, and vision in 340 patients aged 75 and over on admission to a medical department. Three months later, 213 patients had been discharged, 41 were still in hospital, 64 had died, and 22 had been transferred to another hospital or returned to a nursing home. Impairment of any of the functions tested, except vision, was associated with prolonged length of stay. Only two of 135 patients with no disability were still in hospital after three months, while for patients with three or more disabilities the number was 15 out of 56. Increasing age was associated with a tendency to prolonged length of stay. No such tendency was found among those who lived alone.