Life satisfaction and functional disabilities in long-term survivors after first stroke

Despite good recovery from a stroke, the quality of life (QOL) of most stroke patients living in the community is not always restored in their acute or recovery phase. Our aim of this study was to evaluate the relation between basic/social functional disabilities and life satisfaction (one of the indicators of QOL) in long-term survivors after a first stroke. Sixty three consecutive outpatients who had received comprehensive inpatient rehabilitation after their first stroke participated in this cross-sectional study. The profile, basic activities of daily living, life style and life satisfaction of these outpatients were evaluated based on their interview. More than half of the subjects had a decrease in life satisfaction. There was mostly weak positive correlation between functional/social disabilities and the life satisfaction, and both age and sex were not predictors of their QOL. Therefore, functional disabilities had a weak impact on QOL in the long-term survivors after the first stroke.