1996 Volume 11 Issue 4 Pages 179-184
Physiological Cost Index (PCI) of 20 stroke patients was measured for 3 consecutive days in order to clarify the reproducibility of the variants for PCI as well as PCI itself. The subjects were ordered to “walk comfortably” and “walk as fast as you can”. From the viewpoint of reproducibility, the types of patients who could be assessed by PCI were also examined. The analysis of variance revealed no significant difference in PCI among measurement days, and the reproducibility of PCI was confirmed. Intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.90 and 0.89 during comfortable and maximum walkings, respectively, which suggests high reproducibility of PCI. Coefficient of variation were 11.3% and 7.6% in average during comfortable and maximum walkings, respectively. This variation was considered to be caused by heart rate at rest, changes in heart rate before and after walking, and the velocity of comfortable walking. Although the profiles of the subjects such as age, period from the onset, physical structure, Brunnstrom stage, maximum velocity of 10 m walking, and Barthel Index, varied considerably, the applicability of PCI to stroke patients was confirmed in the present study.
