title: The impact of patient's weight on post-stroke rehabilitation.
abstract: Purpose To evaluate the influence of patient's weight on rehabilitation outcomes in first-event stroke patients. Design Retrospective, observational comparative study. 102 first-time stroke male and female patients admitted to the 52-bed neurology rehabilitation department in a rehabilitation hospital were included in the study. Body mass index (BMI), Functional Independence Measure (FIM) on admission and at discharge, as well as the delta-FIM (FIM on admission - FIM at discharge) were evaluated. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the FIM and the NIHSS scores between BMI groups (normal, overweight, moderate and severe obesity). Results A statistically significant negative correlation (rho = -0.20, p = 0.049) was found between FIM change and BMI, that remained significant after adjustments for age, sex and hospitalisation days. No difference was found between groups in FIM or NIHSS change between BMI groups. Conclusions In sub-acute post-stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation in rehabilitation hospital, BMI was negatively associated with the improvement of functional parameters. Patients' BMI should be taken into consideration when predicting rehabilitation outcome for stroke patients. Further investigations are needed to identify the functional parameters affected by the patients' BMI. Implications for Rehabilitation In sub-acute post-stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation in rehabilitation hospital, BMI was negatively associated with the improvement of functional parameters. Patients' BMI should be taken into consideration when predicting rehabilitation outcome for stroke patients. New rehabilitation strategies should be designed to improve the functional outcomes of rehabilitation of obese patients.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Physical Therapy , Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , Beer Sheva , Israel ;
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kalichman
authors.affiliation: b Department of Environmental and Occupational Health , Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University , Israel ;
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Alperovitch-Najenson
authors.affiliation: c Loewenstein Rehabilitation Hospital , Ra'anana , Israel ;|d Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University , Tel Aviv , Israel.
authors.forename: Iuly
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Treger
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000150:complications*; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Body mass index; NIHSS; functional independence measure; rehabilitation; stroke