A multicenter study on the sex difference of dysfunctions among rehabilitation outpatients in China

Dysfunction is a common clinical symptom among rehabilitation patients; however, whether there are sex differences in dysfunctions remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to explore this issue by examining a large sample of the population with dysfunctional problems. A multi-stage sampling scheme was used to select the rehabilitation outpatients as study participants. A total of 3415 participants from 21 medical institutions in seven cities in China were included in the final analysis. The measurement included general characteristics (age, sex, educational level, marital status, and household income) and disease-related characteristics (dysfunctions, self-care ability, vital signs, disease status, and disease course). The logistic regression was used to analyse the sex difference in dysfunctions among rehabilitation outpatients. Among 3415 rehabilitation outpatients, the mean age of participants was 45.3 years (SD:24.9), and more than half (54.0%) were male. The male patients were more likely to have cognitive impairment (OR = 1.74; 95% CI = 1.42, 2.13), speech disorders (OR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.62, 2.48), dysphagia (OR = 1.55; 95% CI = 1.12, 2.16), and multiple dysfunctions (OR = 2.00; 95% CI = 1.57, 2.54) than female. Female patients were more likely to have motor dysfunctions (OR = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.50, 0.78). There are sex differences in dysfunctions among rehabilitation outpatients. This sex difference may provide potential clinical value for the treatment of rehabilitation patients.