Objective To describe the status of activities of daily living (ADL) during hospital stay in older patients who were independent in ADL before admission, and to identify predictors of ADL recovery 3 months after discharge. Methods A total of 233 older patients hospitalized in department of internal medicine were recruited from two tertiary hospitals and were surveyed using a general information questionnaire, the Barthel index, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), Abbreviated Mental Test (AMT), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS5). And their ADL were measured again at three months after discharge. Predictors of ADL recovery after discharge were analyzed and ROC curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of each predictor for ADL recovery. Results More than fifty percent (53.2%) of participants regained independence at three months after discharge. Cognition score （OR=1.201,P＜0.01） and ADL score at discharge （OR=1.047,P＜0.01） were predictors of recovery of ADL. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the above two predictors was 0.719 and 0.792, respectively. The AUC of combination use of the 2 predictors was 0.808. Conclusion Functional recovery of older patients who was nondisabled before admission and developed new disability during hospitalization needs to be improved after discharge. Cognition and ADL score at discharge are predictors of functional recovery at three months after discharge.