Prevalence and association of visual functional deficits with lesion characteristics and functional neurological deficits in patients with stroke.
BACKGROUND
Stroke frequently induces visual problems, which impair activities of daily living, lead to falls, and require rehabilitation. However, visual dysfunction has not been well characterized in stroke.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to characterize visual function in patients with stroke and the association of these characteristics with neurological dysfunction and lesion hemisphere.


METHODS
In 40 patients with stroke and 321 control subjects, we carried out an assessment of a broad panel of visual and neurological functional metrics to identify risk factors for specific visual impairments in stroke.


RESULTS
Patients with stroke exhibited a significantly higher rate of occurrence for impairments in all visual metrics assessed, when compared to healthy controls. Risk for particular visual deficits varied according to lesion side (right versus left hemisphere) and specific types of neurological dysfunction.


CONCLUSIONS
Detailed assessment of visual function in patients with stroke can help to clarify the risk of various types of visual impairment. Moreover, as visual function assessment in patients with stroke is difficult, knowledge of the correlation of visual impairments with different neurological dysfunctions observed in stroke and lesion side will help predict vision problems and inform optimal corrective measures in treating patients with stroke.
School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan.
Sayoko
S
Niwa
Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, Graduated School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan.
Megumi
M
Shimodozono
Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine, Graduated School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan.
Kazumi
K
Kawahira
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*
Stroke; frontal-lobe dysfunction; trail making test part A; visual function