EFFECT OF DELAYED POST-STROKE REHABILITATION PROGRAM ON PATIENT'S FUNCTIONAL OUTCOME

• Published in: Pakistan Armed Forces medical journal Vol. 68; no. 6; pp. 1672 - 1676
• Main Authors: Akhtar, Noreen, Khan, Atif Ahmed, Ayyub, Aisha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rawalpindi Asianet-Pakistan 01.12.2018; AsiaNet Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd; Army Medical College Rawalpindi
• Subjects: Age; complications; functional outcomes; Medicare; Patients; Rehabilitation; Stroke; Pakistan
• ISSN: 0030-9648; 2411-8842

Neurologic recovery and functional improvement among stroke survivors occurs maximum in the early post stroke period, hence delay in the initiation of rehabilitation may leads to poor functional outcomes, prolonged hospital stays, burden on governmental health budget and a liability to the society10-13. Besides functional impairment, stroke survivors are also prone to develop a wide range of complications like painful shoulder, shoulder dislocation, spasticity, falls, urinary tract infection and depression14-15. Sufficient data on the effect of delayed IRF admission on functional outcome in stroke survivors among Pakistani population is not available. [...]this study was designed to document the effects of delayed entry to IRF in stroke patients. Researchers have also taken into consideration factor other than time from stroke onset to IRF admission that might play a role in functional recovery like age difference, disability status and type of stroke, and found that even if age and disability was matched, those with early initiation of rehabilitation had much improvement in functional status as compared to late onset rehabilitation12-16 Studies have also shown that timely rehabilitation not only improves functional recovery but also help to identifying and prevent many distressing poststroke complications like spasticity, contracture, shoulder pain, shoulder dislocation, depression, urinary tract infection and pressure ulcers17. [...]we could not follow up our patients over long period to see the long-term effect of delayed rehabilitation on functional outcome, hence a large scale study with longterm follow up should be conducted to see the long term functional outcome of delayed rehabilitation up to the level of community reintegration of these patients.