title: [Impact of rural or urban areas on disability after a stroke].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the residual disability in a sample of patients after suffering a first episode of a stroke and to compare the disability of those patients who live in rural areas with those living in urban areas.
  
  
  METHODS
  An observational, longitudinal study of a cohort of 89 patients from a Neurology Unit, affected by cerebrovascular accident. The following factors were assessed: sociodemographic and environmental factors, co-morbidity, functional status, disability, depression and anxiety, and quality of life. The different clinical and demographic variables were compared after admission to the unit, at hospital discharge, and 3 months afterwards. Regression analyses were also carried out in order to study the association between the clinical and sociodemographic factors, and post-stroke disability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to their previous clinical state, after suffering a stroke patients showed a higher rate of co-morbidity (P<.0001), disability (P<.0001), depression (P=.002), and a poorer quality of life (P=.013). The difference between patients coming from rural and urban areas was not statistically significant in terms of disability, quality of life, anxiety, depression, or co-morbidity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The level of disability, depression and co-morbidity that patients showed after suffering a stroke was similar to the results obtained in other studies. As a novel feature, there were no differences between patients living in rural areas after suffering a stroke and those living in urban areas, as regards disability, depression, or co-morbidity.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Universitario de Burgos, Burgos, España. Electronic address: aortegab@saludcastillayleon.es.
authors.forename: M Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Ortega-Barrio
authors.forename: M Begoña
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Herce-Martínez
authors.forename: Florita
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Valiñas-Sieiro
authors.forename: Natividad
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mariscal-Pérez
authors.forename: M Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: López-Cunquero
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cubo-Delgado
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012423:Rural Health; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D014504:Urban Health
keywords: Calidad de vida; Depresión; Depression; Disability; Discapacidad; Ictus; Población rural; Población urbana; Quality of life; Rural population; Stroke; Urban population