Relationship of motor and cognitive abilities to functional performance in stroke rehabilitation

This study explored the relationships between the motor and cognitive abilities, and the functional performance of patients with stroke. Motor and cognitive abilities were measured by the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) and the Neurobehavioural Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE), and functional performance was measured by the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). All assessments were conducted at admission, after 2 and 4 weeks, and at discharge. A total of 37 patients with first stroke at mean age 62.3 years (SD=5.4) participated in the study. Results indicated that the lower extremity and balance scores on the FMA were highly correlated with the FIM (motor subscale) on all occasions (r = 0.65-0.92), whereas upper extremity and hand scores on the FMA were moderately correlated (r = 0.53-0.73). Cognitive abilities such as judgement, comprehension and repetition had moderate positive relationships with functional performance (r = 0.35-0.62). Consistent with previous studies, motor functional performance at di...