title: Length of Stay at Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility and Stroke Patient Outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the association of inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) length of stay (LOS) with stroke patient outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A secondary data analysis of the Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation database.
  
  
  METHODS
  Stroke patients discharged from IRFs in the United States between 2009 and 2011 were identified and divided into mild (n = 639), moderate (n = 2,065), and severely (n = 2,077) impaired groups. Study outcomes included cognition and motor functional gains measured by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) instrument and discharge to the community.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average LOS was 8.9, 13.9, and 22.2 days for mild, moderate, and severely impaired stroke patients, respectively. After controlling for FIM admission and other important covariates, a longer LOS was associated with a modest increase in cognition gain (β = 0.038, p = .0045) for the moderately impaired patients, and a modest increase in cognition (β = 0.13, p < .0001) and motor gains (β = 0.25, p < .0001) as well as a tendency for discharge to the community (OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 1.00-1.02) among the severely impaired patients. However, a longer LOS showed a negative association with functional gains among the mildly impaired patients as well as discharge to community for both mild and moderately impaired patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The association of IRF LOS and patient outcomes varied by stroke impairment severity, positively for more severely impaired patients and negatively for mildly impaired patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study provides evidence for the care of stroke patients at the IRF setting.
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Vallejo, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Camicia
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Vallejo, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Health Department, State University of New York at Cortland, Cortland, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: DiVita
authors.affiliation: Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, Amherst, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mix
authors.affiliation: Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, Amherst, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Paulette
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Niewczyk
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019145:Rehabilitation Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Stroke; length of stay; outcomes; rehabilitation