A Study to Find Out Strongest Predictive Factor for Functional Outcome After Stroke: An Exploratory Study

Background: Stroke is second commonest cause of death and fourth leading cause of disability worldwide. Its recovery makes an important concern not only for the physiotherapists but for the entire rehabilitation team. Aim/Purpose: Stroke affects each patient variably and differently. All stroke patients who receive physiotherapy services may improve in function, rate and quality may vary. At present, there is no any objective method which tells expected prediction for recovery after stroke. So it becomes very important that there should be identification of different factors to predict recovery after stroke. Objective: To find out strength of association between different predictive factors and functional outcome of stroke patients. Setting: Different physiotherapy centres of Surat city. Method: Exploratory study was done in Surat city. Selection of stroke patients was done as per selection criteria. After ethical clearance, subjects were explained about the study. Informed consent forms were signed by the patient and/or relatives. Subjects selected by convenient sampling were assessed for different 21 factors and functional outcome by Modified Barthel Index Score was recorded for all patients. Participants: Total 125 male and female stroke patients. Main Outcome Measure: Modified Barthel Index Score. Results: Linear regression at confidence interval 95% was applied to find out strength of association between different predictive factors and post stroke functional outcome. Length of hospitalization was found as strongest predictive factor for functional outcome. Conclusion: These findings may suggest that length of hospitalization is strongest factor for prediction of post stroke recovery.