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Published on: February 22, 2020

Comorbidity in patients after stroke: impact on functional outcome

Altinay Goksel Karatepe1, Rezzan Gunaydin, Taciser Kaya

  • 1Izmir Training and Research Hospital, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Izmir, Turkey. altinaygoksel@yahoo.com

Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine
|February 27, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Comorbid diseases are common after stroke, negatively impacting functional recovery. While their precise effect on outcomes requires further study, evaluating these conditions is crucial for stroke research.

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Rehabilitation Medicine
  • Clinical Research

Background:

  • Comorbid diseases are prevalent in post-stroke patients.
  • Understanding their influence on recovery is essential for effective patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the incidence of comorbid diseases in stroke survivors.
  • To assess the impact of these comorbidities on functional outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective study involving 140 post-stroke patients.
  • Comorbidities assessed using the Liu comorbidity index.
  • Functional Independence Measure (FIM) used to evaluate functional independence.

Main Results:

  • Hypertension was the most frequent comorbidity.
  • Higher baseline comorbidity index correlated with lower FIM scores and functional gain.
  • Comorbidities accounted for 3.1% of the variance in follow-up functional outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Comorbidities are common and negatively associated with functional outcomes post-stroke.
  • The exact impact of comorbidities on functional outcome requires further investigation.
  • Integrating comorbidity assessment into stroke outcome research is recommended.
Abstract

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