Rehabilitation of stroke patients - Clinical profile and functional outcome

Objective: To describe the nature of functional recovery of 67 Turkish surv ivors of first-episode stroke who were referred for inpatient rehabilitatio n and to identify the variables that best predict discharge functional stat us of these patients. Design: A retrospective, descriptive study of the demographic and clinical profile and the functional status of patients with first-episode stroke. Results: The mean age was 60 (11.8, SD) yr, and 35.8% were men. The mean on set-admission interval and length of stay were 62.9 and 97.1 days, respecti vely. The mean functional status score, as measured by the FIM(TM) instrume nt, at the time of admission was 75 compared with 86.7 at the time of disch arge, showing a mean improvement of 11.7. Although rehabilitation gains wer e similar for the right- and left-side involved groups, patients with right -side paresis had lower FIM scores at the time of admission than did the le ft-side involved group. Significant predictors of functional status at the time of discharge were admission functional status score and onset-admissio n interval. Conclusion: Knowledge of these predictors can contribute to more appropriat e treatment and discharge planning.