title: Subcortical vascular lesions and functional recovery in older patients with gait disorders.
abstract: This study aimed to assess whether subcortical vascular lesions (SVLs) predict functional recovery after rehabilitation in elderly patients with gait disorders (GD) due to multiple etiology (GD-ME). All patients consecutively admitted with GD-ME (n=103) in our Rehabilitation and Aged Care Unit (RACU) underwent a standardized rehabilitative program. The outcome measure was the Barthel Index (BI) Relative Functional Gain (RFG), a measure of improvement adjusting for baseline functional level. Potential predictors included cognition, depression, functional and nutritional status, physical health, occurrence of adverse clinical events during hospital stay, and SVLs, assessed with a validated visual rating scale based on brain CT scans. Predictors were divided into quartiles and the association with RFG was assessed. In a multivariate linear regression model, SVLs maintained its predictive power on RFG after adjustment for age, gender, and adverse clinical events, which was the only variable associated to RFG in the bivariate model (adjusted p=0.002 for trend). The study shows that SVLs is a predictor of functional recovery in elderly patients with GD-ME.
authors.affiliation: Rehabilitation and Aged Care Unit, Ancelle della Carita Hospital, Via Aselli, 14 I-26100 Cremona, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guerini
authors.forename: Giovanni Battista
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Frisoni
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bellelli
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trabucchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed