FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME AFTER BRAIN-TUMOR AND ACUTE STROKE - A COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS

Objective: To compare the functional outcome, length of stay, and disc harge disposition of patients with brain tumors and those with acute s troke. Design: Case-controlled, retrospective study at a tertiary care medical center inpatient rehabilitation unit. Subjects: Sixty-three b rain tumor patients matched with 63 acute stroke patients according to age, sex, and location of lesion. Main Outcome Measures: The function al independence measure (FIM) was measured on admission and discharge. The FIM change and FIM efficiency were also calculated. The FIM was a nalyzed in three subsets: activities of daily living (ADL), mobility ( MOB), and cognition (COG). Discharge disposition and rehabilitation le ngth of stay were compared. Results: Demographic variables of race, ma rital status, and payer source were comparable for the two groups. No significant difference was found between the brain turner and stroke p opulations with respect to total admission FIM, total discharge FIM, c hange in total FIMI or FIM efficiency. The admission MOB-FIM was found to be higher in the brain tumor group (13.6 vs 11.1, p = .04), wherea s the stroke group had a greater change in ADL-FIM score (10.8 vs 8.3, p = .03). The two groups had similar rates of discharge to community at greater than 85%. The tumor group had a significantly shorter rehab ilitation length of stay than the stroke group (25 vs 34 days, Conclus ion: Brain tumor patients can achieve comparable functional outcome an d rates of discharge to community and have a shorter rehabilitation le ngth of stay than stroke patients (C) 1998 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.