Death or improvement: The fate of highly disabled patients after stroke rehabilitation

The study evaluates the long-term outcome in patients severely disabled after suffering their first stroke and who after rehabilitation were discharged. A total of 176 consecutive patients were studied who at their discharge were highly dependent and presented a functional independence measure (FIM) score in the range of 18-39. They were discharged within 60 days, according to local laws. At a follow-up after 1 year, 89 patients survived (50.56%) and 72 (40.90%) died. One woman did not show up at the follow-up; 14 patients were not found (7.95%). By applying the Friedman's test a significant improvement was observed in stroke survivors. A significant negative correlation was found between age and FIM only at follow-up. In conclusion, highly disabled stroke patients are likely to undergo unfavorable outcome, bill unexpected improvement cannot be ruled out.