Functional Motor Recovery in Stroke Survivors-determinants in a Sub-saharan African Stroke Unit.

OBJECTIVE To find out the determinants of functional motor recovery in stroke survivors. DESIGN A prospective cross-sectional study. SETTING Stroke outpatient clinic tertiary care hospital. SUBJECTS One hundred and two stroke survivors had their basic data captured as well as the modified Rankin score (both at the time of discharge after admission and at the time of evaluation in the clinic). RESULTS Twenty nine (28.4%) had functional recovery versus 73 (71.6%) that did not. Younger age (OR = 0.95 {CI 0.90-0.99} P = 0.048), higher Rankin score at discharge (OR = 2.35 {CI 1.40-3.95} P = 0.001), fewer informal caregivers at home (OR = 0.68 {0.48-0.97} P = 0.034) and higher frequency of visits,to the physical therapist (OR = 1.30 {0.99-1.71} P = 0.05) predicted functional recovery. Age, modified Rankin score at discharge, duration between discharge from in-patient care and evaluation in clinic and frequency of visits to the physical therapist predicted group membership between functional recovery and others. CONCLUSION In spite of the lean neurorehabilitation facilities in the setting of this study, increased frequency of visits to the physical therapist predicted functional recovery in stroke survivors as in more resource robust climates. It should therefore be prescribed until functional recovery is achieved.