An investigation of the factors that influence functional improvement in stroke rehabilitation

BACKGROUND/AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine effect of age, sex, affected extremity, disability severity, treatment type, cerebrovascular accident (CVA) etiology, number of treatment sessions, and CVA duration on the functional improvement of the stroke patients who participated in a physical medicine and rehabilitation program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The research sample consisted of 322 stroke patients. Clinical and demographic features including age, sex, affected extremity, disability severity, treatment type, CVA etiology, number of treatment sessions, and CVA duration were recorded. Functional status was evaluated retrospectively by using the functional independence measure (FIM) at admission and discharge. RESULTS: It was detected that discharge FIM score of the patients exhibited an increase of significance level (p < 0.05). It was found that age, number of treatment sessions, CVA duration and FIM admission score were determinative parameters in FIM gain level (p < 0.05) while sex, affected extremity, and CVA etiology were not effective in FIM gain level (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Results show that functional improvement after rehabilitation was better in the younger ages, shorter CVA durations and moderate functional disturbances. The findings obtained may be useful for stroke rehabilitation triage.