Participation in work and leisure activities after stroke: A national study

Stroke is a common and debilitating neurological disorder having a negative impact on quality of life.

We aimed to compare differences in participation in work and leisure activities between patients with and without a self-reported stroke at the national level in France.

This study used cross-sectional data from the Disability Health Survey that was administered in people's homes (DHH) in 2008 and in institutions (DHI) in 2009. Stroke history and levels of participation in work and leisure activities were collected by interviews. The levels of participation in these activities were compared between participants with and without a history of stroke.

Among the 33,785 interviewed participants, 1725 reported a history of stroke. After weighting, this represented a mean (SD) of 766,641 (36,650) people among 49 million adults living in France. After adjustment, as compared with people without stroke, those with stroke were less likely to work (odds ratio 0.19 [95% confidence interval 0.13-0.27]), use the telephone (0.21 [0.17-0.25]) and drive (0.25 [0.21-0.32]). In the age group 19-59 years, as compared with people without stroke, those with stroke less frequently worked (35.9% vs. 72.2%), drove (54.3% vs. 81.3%) and participated in sports (26.6% vs. 55.8%).

Overall, our study indicates that people with a history of stroke report more difficulties in participating in work and leisure activities than those without a history of stroke.