Hospital Outcomes Project for the Elderly (HOPE): rationale and design for a prospective pooled analysis.

Objective: To describe a collaborative investigation that is based on a series of six clinical studies aimed at reducing functional decline in the acutely-ill hospitalized elderly.

Design: A prospective, multicenter pooled analysis project involving collection of a common set of data from a group of related but distinct intervention trials with similar objectives.

Setting: Five university-affiliated hospitals and one community hospital.

Participants: Elderly patients (age minimums from 65 to 75 years) admitted for a range of acute illnesses.

Interventions: Site-specific interventions include exercise and physical therapy; developing and implementing methods to improve detection and evaluation of delirious patients; a multidisciplinary geriatric care unit; a multidisciplinary intervention implemented in-hospital that includes some post-discharge care; and a nursing-centered geriatric care program.

Main Outcome Measure: Functional status.

Conclusion: The prospective, multicenter design of the Hospital Outcomes Project for the Elderly (HOPE) provides an innovative approach for analysis of hospital outcomes in the elderly. Although differences in study populations and interventions exist, qualitative comparisons across sites will enhance generalizability and will provide a great opportunity to examine consistency among the sites. The HOPE pooled analysis project will impart greater statistical power to detect the primary and secondary outcomes compared with previous single-center trials that have assessed interventions related to functional decline in the hospitalized elderly.