BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) are considered potentially preventable. With little known about the functional outcomes of older persons after ACSC-related hospitalizations, our objectives were to describe: (1) the 6-month course of postdischarge functional disability, (2) the cumulative monthly probability of functional recovery, and (3) the cumulative monthly probability of incident nursing home (NH) admission.

METHODS: The analytic sample included 251 ACSC-related hospitalizations from a cohort of 754 nondisabled, community-living persons aged 70 years and older who were interviewed monthly for up to 19 years. Patient-reported disability scores in basic, instrumental, and mobility activities ranged from 0 to 13. Functional recovery was defined as returning within 6 months of discharge to a total disability score less than or equal to that immediately preceding hospitalization.

RESULTS: The mean age was 85.1 years, and the mean disability score was 5.4 in the month prior to the ACSC-related hospitalization. After the ACSC-related hospitalization, total disability scores peaked at month 1 and improved modestly over the next 5 months, but remained greater than the pre-hospitalization score. Functional recovery was achieved by 70% of patients, and incident NH admission was experienced by 50% within 6 months after the 251 ACSC-related hospitalizations.

CONCLUSIONS: During the 6 months after an ACSC-related hospitalization, older persons exhibited total disability scores that were higher than those immediately preceding hospitalization, with 3 of 10 not achieving functional recovery and half experiencing incident NH admission. These findings provide evidence that older persons experience clinically meaningful adverse patient-reported outcomes after ACSC-related hospitalizations.

背景/目标：门诊护理敏感疾病 (ACSC) 住院被认为是可以预防的。由于对 ACSC 相关住院后老年人的功能结果知之甚少，我们的目标是描述：（1）出院后 6 个月的功能障碍病程，（2）功能恢复的每月累积概率，以及（3）事件疗养院 (NH) 入院的累积每月概率。

方法：分析样本包括 754 名 70 岁及以上的非残疾社区居民的 251 名 ACSC 相关住院患者，他们每月接受一次长达 19 年的访谈。患者报告的基本、工具和移动活动的残疾评分范围为 0 到 13。功能恢复被定义为在出院后 6 个月内恢复到总残疾评分小于或等于住院前的总残疾评分。

结果： ACSC 相关住院前一个月的平均年龄为 85.1 岁，平均残疾评分为 5.4。在与 ACSC 相关的住院治疗后，总残疾评分在第 1 个月达到峰值，并在接下来的 5 个月内略有改善，但仍高于住院前评分。70% 的患者实现了功能恢复，在 251 例 ACSC 相关住院后的 6 个月内，有 50% 的患者出现 NH 入院。

结论：在 ACSC 相关住院后的 6 个月内，老年人的总残疾评分高于住院前的患者，10 人中有 3 人没有实现功能恢复，一半人经历了 NH 入院。这些发现提供了证据，表明老年人在 ACSC 相关住院后经历了具有临床意义的不良患者报告结果。