Severe Disability After Stroke: Outcome After Inpatient Rehabilitation

Abstract

Objective: To determine the functional outcome following acute rehabilitation of patients with severe and very severe stroke using the Functional Independence Mea sure (FIM). Background: Most patients with severe and very severe stroke are reported in the literature to have a poor functional outcome. However, there are few studies that specifically address severity and their conclusions are confounding. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed charts of 41 consecutive patients with the primary diag nosis of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke admitted to an inpatient rehabilitation unit with a admission FIM score of