Influence of Associated Medical Diseases and Complications on Functional Improvement after Rehabilitation in Patients with Stroke

Objective: To investigate the influence of associated medical diseases and complications on functional improvement after in-patient through stroke rehabilitation. Method: We performed a retrospective analysis on medical records of 183 stroke patients who had admitted to the department of rehabilitation medicine. Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Modified Barthel Index (MBI) at admission and discharge were used to assess the functional status. We investigated medical diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infarct, atrial fibrillation osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, previous history of stroke and complications such as dementia, post-stroke depression, central post-stroke pain, complex regional pain syndrome, neglect and aphasia. Results: Post-stroke patients with myocardial infarct, atrial fibrillation, osteoarthritis, dementia, aphasia and neglect significantly showed lower gain of FIM and MBI, lower FIM and MBI efficacy during inpatient rehabilitation compared to without those (p 0.05). Total numbers of associated medical diseases and complications negatively affect on FIM and MBI efficacy (p<0.05). Conclusion: Therefore, it may be important to early detect and manage associated medical diseases and complications in post-stroke patients during rehabilitation, which improve the overall functional recovery of the patients. (Brain & NeuroRehabilitation 2008; 1: 190-196)