Statistical analysis

We compared the basic attributes and rehabilitation progress factors expressed by the median (interquartile range) or the number of cases (%) in the data in both groups. The Mann-Whitney test was used for intergroup comparisons of the continuous and ordinal variables of each item, and the intergroup comparison of the nominal variables was examined using the χ² test. For the multivariate analysis, we used gait independence at discharge as the dependent variable, and the explanatory variables were the items other than the variables of measurement at discharge. A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used, in which all items with p < 0.05 in a univariate analysis were input into the multivariate model. We assessed the probability of gait independence at hospital discharge as a function of the interval from ICU discharge to hospital discharge using the Kaplan-Meier curve. JMP version 13.0 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA) was used for statistical analysis. The significance level was less than 5%.