Objective To explore the potential categories of care dependency and its relationship with discharge readiness among elderly patients after elective surgery,and to provide reference for the development of targeted discharge intervention plan. Methods A total of 362 elderly patients to be discharged from 6 tertiary general hospitals after elective surgery were selected, and asked to fill out the general data questionnaire, the Discharge Readiness Scale and the Care Dependency Scale. Results The total scores of discharge readiness and care dependency in elderly patients after elective surgery were (159.39±30.79) and (53.54±11.49) points respectively. The patients could be grouped into either of the three categories based on latent class analysis of care dependency: social dependence (43.6%), full dependence (23.8%), and learning dependence (32.6%). Multiclass logistic regression showed that age, per capita monthly income, habitation style and whether having chronic diseases or not were the influencing factors of care dependency of the elderly (P＜0.05,P＜0.01). Conclusion Elderly patients after elective surgery have high level of care dependency,which is closely associated with discharge readiness. Medical staff should formulate targeted intervention measures for elderly patients of different categories, in bid to reduce their care dependency and improve discharge readiness.