Severe Disability After Stroke: Outcome After Inpatient Rehabilitation

Abstract

Objective: To determine the functional outcome following acute rehabilitation of patients with severe and very severe stroke using the Functional Independence Mea sure (FIM). Background: Most patients with severe and very severe stroke are reported in the literature to have a poor functional outcome. However, there are few studies that specifically address severity and their conclusions are confounding. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed charts of 41 consecutive patients with the primary diag nosis of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation unit with a admission FIM score of <60. Outcome measures included discharge residence, length of stay, and FIM score. Results: Over 63 percent (26 patients) were discharged to home. Discharge mean FIM scores (61.24) were significantly improved over the admission mean FIM (34.12) for self-care, mobility, communication, and social cog nition. The FIM Efficiency score was 0.356/day (mean[FIMdis-FIMadm]/mean LOS) as compared with previous reports of FIM Efficiency of 0.97/day for all stroke. Con clusion: Patients with severe stroke can experience improvement during inpatient rehabilitation and be discharged to a home setting, although the rate of improvement is less than that of more moderate stroke.