Functional decline in geriatric rehabilitation ward; is it ascribable to hospital acquired infection? A prospective cohort study.

Baseline comorbidities were independently associated with functional decline in patients hospitalized in a geriatric rehabilitation unit. Pulmonary HAI may have mediated this association. We need to better identify patients at risk of functional decline before transfer to a rehabilitation unit and to test the implementation of modern and individual programs of rehabilitation outside the hospital for these patients.