Brief cognitive assessment and prediction of functional outcome in stroke

To evaluate the ability to predict outcome with a brief measure of cognitive ability, we tested consecutive admissions who received inpatient rehabilitation for stroke with the Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Symptoms (RBANS). Six months later, 34 discharged patients were contacted by telephone and were interviewed using a battery of functional outcome and quality of life measures. Multiple regression analysis showed that inpatient RBANS indexes predicted cognitive disability 6 months later. The present findings support the use of cognitive evaluations of patients with acute stroke to assist with prediction of outcome to be used in treatment planning.