The association between gender, race and marital status on functional outcome at rehabilitation discharge after thromboembolic stroke: a prospective analysis1
Affiliations: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, MCV Box 980661, Richmond, VA 23298-0661, USA
Note: [1] No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.
Abstract: Appropriate allocation of rehabilitation resources requires that the rehabilitation professional have a knowledge of reliable predictors of functional outcome. To determine what influence pre-morbid demographic variables have on functional outcome following thromboembolic stroke, we analyzed prospectively collected demographic and functional data from consecutive patients admitted to rehabilitation at a tertiary university medical center. Data from 117 patients were statistically analyzed for correlations between demographic factors and functional outcome as measured by the FIM scale and hospital length of stay (LOS). While no significant correlations were found between race or gender and functional outcome, Caucasians were found to stay an average of 5 days longer in acute care than African-Americans. Non-married patients were found to have significantly longer rehabilitation LOS and return home following discharge less often. It is concluded that non-married status is a significant negative prognostic factor for functional outcome after thromboembolic stroke, while gender and race have no correlation.
Keywords: Cerebrovascular disorders, Outcome, Race, Gender, Marital status
