title: Motor recovery of stroke patients after rehabilitation: one-year follow-up study.
abstract: Purpose To investigate motor recovery of stroke patients 1 year after rehabilitation. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study of 192 stroke patients discharged from rehabilitation wards in nine tertiary hospitals was conducted. Motor recovery was assessed using the Brunnstrom motor recovery stages (BMRS), at 6 and 12 months after discharge. Factors related to the BMRS of the hand, arm and leg were analyzed. Results The mean age of patients was 62.2 years (57.3% male). Significantly more patients presented improvement of at least one BMRS of the hand, arm and leg compared with those with decreasing BMRS (p < 0.001). The percentage of patients with BMRS III- VI at 6 months was greater than that at discharge, but the recovery at 12 months was slightly higher than that at 6 months. It seems that motor recovery from stroke was near maximal at six months. Regarding the factors related to motor recovery, only lengths of stay (LOS) <30 d during the first admission and Barthel index at discharge ≥10 were related to the improvement of BMRS of the hand, arm and leg on multivariate analysis. Additionally, no complication at discharge was associated with the improvement of BMRS of the leg. Conclusions Approximately half of our stroke patients had motor improvement of at least one stage of BMRS at one year. Motor recovery after stroke at the end of the first year was associated with shorter LOS during the first admission, higher discharge Barthel index score and absence of complications at discharge.
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Medicine, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Siriraj Hospital , Mahidol University , Bangkok , Thailand.
authors.forename: Vilai
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kuptniratsaikul
authors.affiliation: b Faculty of Medicine, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine , Chiang Mai University , Chiang Mai , Thailand.
authors.forename: Apichana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kovindha
authors.affiliation: c Department of Rehabilitation Medicine , Phramongkutklao Hospital and College of Medicine , Bangkok , Thailand.
authors.forename: Sumalee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suethanapornkul
authors.affiliation: d Department of Rehabilitation Medicine , Prasat Neurological Institute, Ministry of Public Health , Bangkok , Thailand.
authors.forename: Pornpimon
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Massakulpan
authors.affiliation: e Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine , Prince of Songkla University , Songkla , Thailand.
authors.forename: Wutichai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Permsirivanich
authors.affiliation: f Faculty of Medicine, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine , Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University , Bangkok , Thailand.
authors.forename: Patcharawimol Srisa-An
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Kuptniratsaikul
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009069:Movement Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Barthel index; Brunnstrom stages; motor recovery; stroke rehabilitation