[Characteristics of hospitalized geriatric patients--a comparison of two cohorts using the screening of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Geriatrisches Basisassessment (AGAST)].

The geriatric screening according to AGAST (Arbeitsgruppe Geriatrisches Basisassessment) contains functional and diagnosis related items, and risk indicators of prognostic relevance, particularly in hospitalized patients. In a retrospective, cohort study, we compared the screening results in 250 consecutive patients of geriatric in-hospital acute care, and 250 consecutive patients of geriatric in-hospital rehabilitation, as well as demographic characteristics, diagnoses, and functional status as measured by the Barthel index. There was a trend indicating the total number of positive screening findings being higher with older age. Positive correlations with age were found for hearing, leg function, and cognitive function in female patients. There were also associations between the frequencies of certain screening findings with diagnostic categories. Apart from the different official manner of admission to geriatric acute care or geriatric rehabilitation, there were differences between the cohorts in age, living place before hospitalization, discharge location, spectrum of diagnoses, and the degree of functional impairment. The screening results indicated that prognostic risk factors were not equally distributed among the study cohorts. These were, in particular, urinary incontinence, poor nutritional status, impaired cognitive function, and depressive mood. There were associations between risk frequency as indicated by the screening and complicated hospital stay, functional outcome, and death. Combined with additional data, the screening according to AGAST appears to be suitable for meaningful comparisons of different groups of geriatric patients.