Activities of Daily Living (ADL) Predicts in-hospital Mortality in Geriatric Patients with Community-acquired Pneumonia (CAP)

Abstract Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is an important problem with significant mortality. Activity of daily living (ADL) function decline is associated with increased mortality in elderly patients. We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of ADL at admission on the in-hospital mortality in geriatric patients with pneumonia. Methods: Patients over 65 years old admitted to Beijing Chao-yang hospital due to CAP from June 2012 through June 2020 were retrospectively reviewed by electronic medical records. Risk factors for mortality in pneumonia patients described in literature were included in our study. ADL evaluation at admission was performed by Barthel index (BI). Results: 4880 patients were included, 131 patients (2.7%) died during their admission. 69.5% patients in Dead group had a BI scores < 60. Mean BI score in the Dead group and Alive group were 49.89±30.20 and 81.57±22.14, respectively. Dead group had lower BI scores than Alive group (p＜0.001). A low BI was associated with increased in-hospital mortality. Logistic regression analyses demonstrated that ADL function at admission was significantly and independently associated with the in-hospital mortality, either in younger (age 65-74years) or very elderly (age≥75years) patients. Receiver operating characteristic ( ROC ) curve analysis revealed that BI at admission is an predictor related to in-hospital mortality in elderly patients, The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of BI in predicting in-hospital mortality was 0.81 (with 95% confidence interval: 0.78–0.85).Conclusion: ADL decline is associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality among elderly patients hospitalized with CAP. ADL function at admission can predict in-hospital mortality in geriatric patients with CAP. Barthel Index (BI) can be used as a simple and convenient method for the assessment of the ADL functional status at admission in geriatric patients with CAP to identify patients at high risk and conducive to clinical decision making.