Research Letter

Predicting the risk of functional decline in older patients admitted to the hospital: a comparison of three screening instruments SIR—Almost 30 % of older patients develop functional decline, while being hospitalised. [1, 2]. This often irreversibly diminishes quality of life, results in an increased risk of sub-sequent illness or death and is associated with prolonged hospital stay, higher rates of institutionalisation, readmission and larger health care expenditure [3–5]. Predictors of func-tional decline are age, admission diagnosis, lower functional status, impaired cognitive status, comorbidities, polyphar-macy and length of hospital stay [6–9]. Various screening tools, encompassing (some of) these predictors are available: the Triage Risk Screening Tool (TRST) [10, 11], the Iden-tification of Seniors at Risk (ISAR) [12, 13] or the Variabl