Abstract
Objective Detect the main predictive non-motor factors related to independent community ambulation after stroke. Furthermore, we propose a scale to estimate the probability of a stroke patient getting independent community ambulation after six months of rehabilitation.
Design and Settings Prospective cohort. Subjects treated in a rehabilitation center in a large metropolitan area. After that, the independent community ambulation was evaluated according to the Hoffer classification. Functional ambulation was assessed at four levels: nonambulatory, nonfunctional ambulation, household ambulation and community ambulation.
Participants Patients (n=201) with a moderate disability after stroke.
Results The average time of hospitalization was 19.3 days. However, only 32.8% of the patients started the rehabilitation program during the first six months after stroke. We found that 121 patients acquired community march (60.2%), 40 got home march (19.9%), 12 achieved therapy march (5.9%) and 28 did not ambulate after six months of treatment. Based on our final model, a scoring scale was created in order to evaluate the probability of stroke patients achieving independent community ambulation after six months of rehabilitation. Higher scores were associated with better chances of community ambulation within six months.
Conclusions The scale which evaluated these factors proved to have acceptable sensitivity and specificity to establish the prognosis of community ambulation after six months of rehabilitation.
- Received March 4, 2014.
- Revision received May 13, 2014.
- Accepted June 30, 2014.
