Influence of admission functional status on functional change after stroke rehabilitation.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether the admission functional score influences the functional change after stroke rehabilitation.


METHODS
Two hundred forty-three patients who had received the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) assessment at admission and at discharge were enrolled in the study. The patients were stratified into three groups according to their FIM total scores at admission, i.e., < or =36, 37 to 72, and > or =73.


RESULTS
The Scheffé's multiple comparison test showed that patients with FIM total scores of > or =73 at admission were significantly younger (58 +/- 11 [SD] yr) than those who had scores of 37 to 72 (64 +/- 11 yr) or < or =36 (66 +/- 12 yr). Patients with FIM total scores of 37 to 72 at admission showed significantly higher FIM gain (37 +/- 15) compared with those patients who had scores of > or =73 (20 +/- 10) or < or =36 (29 +/- 23).


CONCLUSIONS
The functional levels of affected patients at admission stratified by the FIM scale roughly predict the degree of functional gain after rehabilitation in survivors with a first episode of ischemic stroke. Moderately affected patients will benefit from intensive rehabilitation. These findings may be useful for rehabilitation triage.
Inouye
M
M
Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo Rehabilitation Center Hospital, Kobe, Japan.
Hashimoto
H
H
Mio
T
T
Sumino
K
K
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation