[Rehabilitation treatment after stroke. An assessment of current status]

A standardized postacute inpatient rehabilitation program (Anschlussheilbehandlung) after stroke is well established in Germany. Yet the needs of patients being admitted to an Anschlussheilbehandlung (AHB) are not completely known. Therefore sociodemographic data, handicap, impairment and neuropsychologic deficits in 200 stroke patients were evaluated before admission to an AHB with different scores (Barthel, modified Rankin Score, NIHSS, HAWIE-R, Wilde, etc.). About half of the patients were still working prestroke. Most patients suffered from several vascular risk factors, which were insufficiently treated, and about a third of the patients had cerebrovascular disease prior to this stroke. At admission to the rehabilitation program the group of patients with severe neurological deficits was small. In average the disability was rather moderate (Rankin = 2.6). Mainly gait and finger dexterity were handicapped. Functional impairment was outweighed by neuropsychological deficits.