Functional outcome at 3.2 years after stroke attack in Fukuoka Prefecture

Abstract

This retrospective analysis concerns 206 among 1472 stroke patients who were discharged from 6 medical centers in Fukuoka Prefecture between January 1989 and December 1990. The objective was to estimate the functional outcome and the situation of living at 3.2 years after 4.5 months of hospitalization. The Rankin disability scale averaged 3.2, and the Barthel index averaged 34.2, at admission. These values were significantly lowered to 2.2 and 22.7, respectively, at discharge, and no further improvement of the scale or index was obtained during the period of the present study. Dysphasic cases among 174 patients decreased from 17.2% to 9.2%, despite 25.7% in embolism. A depressive state was noted in 48.7% in this study without differences between males and females or between age groups. A return to work by the time of follow-up was achieved in 36.8% of the patients, although 20.4% remained bedridden or were still suffering from severely limited activities of living. A need for further social as well as medical support should be anticipated, since the case fatality has been decreasing in recent years.