Table 1. Characteristics and condition of patients with severe pneumonia before undergoing general rehabilitation and dysphagia rehabilitation.
| Characteristic | Early groupa
(n=159) |
Control groupb
(n=67) |
Pc |
| Age (years) | 84.6 ± 7.2 | 83.3 ± 7.7 | 0.25 |
| Sex: female | 63 (39.6) | 25 (37.3) | 0.77 |
| A-DROP score | |||
| 3 points | 109 (68.6) | 44 (65.7) | |
| 4 points | 43 (27.0) | 22 (32.8) | |
| 5 points | 7 (4.4) | 1 (1.5) | 0.47 |
| Age (years): men ≥70, women ≥75 | 154 (96.9) | 62 (92.5) | 0.17 |
| BUN ≥21 mg/dl | 102 (64.2) | 50 (74.6) | 0.16 |
| SpO2 ≤90% | 136 (85.5) | 56 (83.6) | 0.84 |
| Consciousness disturbance | 124 (78.0) | 52 (77.6) | 1.00 |
| Systolic BP ≤90 mmHg | 17 (10.7) | 5 (7.5) | 0.48 |
| NHCAP | 131 (82.4) | 55 (82.1) | 1.00 |
| Invasive and noninvasive ventilation | 2 (1.3) | 4 (6.0) | 0.07 |
| Comorbidities | 149 (93.7) | 63 (94.0) | 1.00 |
| Lung disease | 36 (22.6) | 19 (28.4) | 0.40 |
| Malignant tumor | 25 (15.7) | 13 (19.4) | 0.56 |
| Immunodeficiency | 12 (7.5) | 6 (9.0) | 0.79 |
| Liver disease | 2 (1.3) | 2 (3.0) | 0.58 |
| Congestive heart failure | 22 (13.8) | 10 (14.9) | 0.84 |
| Cerebrovascular disease | 45 (28.3) | 21 (31.3) | 0.75 |
| Brain disease | 22 (16.1) | 10 (14.9) | 0.84 |
| Renal disease | 16 (10.1) | 8 (11.9) | 0.81 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 26 (16.4) | 14 (20.9) | 0.45 |
| Dementia | 108 (67.9) | 48 (71.6) | 0.64 |
| Moderate or severe nutritional risk | 105 (66.1) | 49 (73.1) | 0.35 |
| Admission from nursing home | 51 (32.1) | 24 (35.8) | 0.64 |
| Ambulatory before admission | 66 (41.5) | 34 (50.7) | 0.24 |
| FILS score at the start of the rehabilitation | 5 (4–7) | 5 (3–7) | 0.34 |
aDysphagia rehabilitation was started within 2 days after admission.
bDysphagia rehabilitation was started between 3 and 7 days after admission.
cUnpaired Student's t-test, Fisher's exact test, or the Mann-Whitney U test was used.
Data are shown as mean±SD, n (%), or median (first quartile–third quartile).
BUN, blood urea nitrogen; BP, blood pressure.