Level of Impairment and Disability in Stroke Survivor: “A Cross Sectional Survey”

Abstract

Background: Stroke is the major cause of disability which results from impaired blood supply to the brain because of obstruction of arteries or because of the rupture of arteries likely due to high blood pressure or because of some other disorder called hemorrhagic stroke which leads to the severe loss of brain tissues

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the level of impairment in patients with ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, with acute, sub-acute, and chronic stroke with right and left-sided stroke, with middle cerebral artery (MCA), with anterior cerebral artery (ACA) and with posterior cerebral artery (PCA) involvement.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2019 to December 2019 in the Hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Non-probability convenience sampling technique was used for sample collection. A total of 246, three to twenty-four months post-stroke male and female patients, from 50 to 80 years of age were included in this study. Patients with Global aphasia, post-procedural stroke like CABG, angiography, and post-operative stroke were excluded. Three assessment scales were used to measure impairment level and disability including functional ambulation category (FAC), motricity index, and river mead motor function assessment. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Independent t-test was used to determine between-group differences.
Results: The mean ±SD of the mortictiy index of arm function, leg, and side function was 43.93 ± 21.28, 44.15 ± 23.44, and 49.47±24.27 respectively. In river mead motor assessment mean ±SD score of gross motor function was 5.88 ±3.83 out of 13, leg and trunk function was 5.17 ±3.27 out of 10 and river mead arm function was 5.99 ± 4.21 out of 15. A significant difference in the level of impairment was observed for the functional ambulatory category and sub-acute and chronic stroke (p-value <0.001).
Conclusion: Post-stroke patients, especially with right-sided strokes and ischemic/MCA involvement, exhibit heightened impairments in gross motor, arm, leg, and trunk functions, leading to increased dependency on ambulation, with acute stroke cases showing greater disability.