What Determines Good Rehabilitation Recovery in Stroke Patients with very Severe Disability? A Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract Objective This study aimed to evaluate predictors of good recovery after rehabilitation in stroke patients with very severe disability. Methods 168 Eligible patients were enrolled. Fugl-Meyer of motor score (FMM), National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) were used to measure the motor and degree of disability. Logistic regressions were used to investigate the effect of 21 pre-existing conditions on efficacy outcomes after 4 weeks rehabilitation. Results The results indicated the following: 1) FMM (r = 0.2, P=0.02) and NIHSS (r = -0.2, P=0.00) were significantly correlated (positively and negatively, respectively) with fat-free mass index (FFMI); 2)FFMI (odds ratio [OR],1.9; 95% CI, 1.1 to 3.3; P=0.02), OAI (OR, 0.9; 95% CI, 0.9 to 1.0; P=0.00), and FMM (OR, 1.0; 95% CI, 1.0 to 1.1; P=0.00) were revealed as predictors of good recovery after 4 weeks rehabilitation; 3) The model could predict the possibility of good recovery in stroke patients with very severe disability with excellent sensitivity and specificity(80.0% and 67.1%, respectively). Conclusions The results could enable clinicians to predict good recovery after rehabilitation in patients with very severe post-stroke disability.