Analysis of demographic and functional subacute (transitional) rehabilitation data

Demographic and functional data were obtained on 102 patients from three subacute rehabilitation units specializing in low-level traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Functional assessment evaluation was performed using the Disability Rating Scale (DRS). The average admission and discharge DRS scores were 17.4 and 13.6, respectively. On average this patient population improved from an extremely severe level of disability to a severe level. The TBI patient subset improved on average from 20.4 to 13.1. Significant correlation exists between admission, discharge, and differential DRS scores, as has been demonstrated previously in the evaluation of this scale among only TBI patients. No significant correlation was demonstrated between demographic information and DRS scores. Thus, no demographic predictors of good or bad functional outcome were identified. In addition, analyses of relationships between diagnosis, length of stay, and age will provide information about subactute rehabilitation, an emerging but little-studied branch of rehabilitation medicine.