SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING ONE-YEAR AFTER STROKE

Objective: To compare the subjective well-being of stroke patients wit h that of a reference group, and to study its relationship to patient characteristics.Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: interviews per formed in the respondents' homes, tests performed al the outpatient cl inic. Subjects: Sixty patients one year after stroke (median age 74 ye ars, interquartile range (IQR) 68-80), and 419 reference individuals ( median age 75 years, IQR 71-80). Measures: Subjective well-being asses sed with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-20). Explanatory variab les were demographic and medical characteristics of the individuals an d scores on validated tests: Barthel Index, Frenchay Activities Index (FAI), Sodring Motor Evaluation of Stroke Patients, Assessment of Cere bral Stroke and other Brain Damage, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results: A significantly higher proportion of the stroke patie nts than of the controls rated their subjective well-being as low, als o after adjustment for age and gender (adjusted odds ratio 20.1, 95% c onfidence interval 9.6-42.0 by logistic regression). In bivariate anal yses, leg and arm motor impairment, visuospatial impairment, apraxia, aphasia, low Barthel score, low FAI score, low MMSE score, and institu tionalization were highly significant predictors of low subjective wel l-being (p-values <0.01). in multiple linear regression, a mode with g ender (p = 0.3) and upper extremity motor score (p < 0.01) fitted the data well, and explained 48% of the variance in GHQ. Conclusion: Subje ctive well-being is decreased one year after stroke, and this is mainl y attributed to arm motor impairments.