Prediction of functional rehabilitation outcomes in clients with stroke

To evaluate the validity of the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE or Cognistat) and to determine its effects in order to estimate the functional outcomes of survivors with stroke.

The present study first studied the factor structure NCSE in 148 Chinese survivors with stroke (aged 45-91 years). They were admitted to hospital consecutively and recruited prospectively. The relationship of NCSE with Functional Independence Measures (FIM), a set of measures commonly adopted as an indicator of the outcome of rehabilitation, was studied.

One hundred and forty-eight patients with stroke (49.3% male, 50.7% female), with a mean age of 70.38 and an average number of years of education of 3.50 years joined the study. A two-factor NCSE structure was obtained, namely verbal-spatial and integrated cognition, accounting for 62.77% of the variance. A significant relationship between NCSE factors and the functional status of clients with stroke on admission and upon discharge, as well as age, years of education and length of hospital stay were indicated.

This study supports a systematic relationship between cognitive factors and functional outcome in Chinese patients with stroke. Similarities and differences in the NCSE factor structure between the population with stroke and general neurological populations were discussed and the utility of NCSE in stroke rehabilitation, such as its predictive validity in functional independence is suggested.