Impact of patient's weight on stroke rehabilitation results

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the influence of patient's weight on rehabilitation results after first stroke.

Design: Retrospective, comparative study. The sample comprised 84 males and females, first-time stroke patients, who had been hospitalized in the department of rehabilitation at the Hartzfeld Geriatric Hospital, Gedera, Israel for a full 3 mos and who, on admission, had scored between 40 and 60 on the total Functional Improvement Measure (FIM) test. We evaluated the difference in total FIM improvement between normal-weight, overweight, and obese patients.

Results: The relative improvement of FIM score was significantly higher in normal-weight patients than in overweight patients, and improvement in overweight patients was significantly higher than in obese ones. We also found a statistically significant negative correlation (r = -0.27, P = 0.014) between relative improvement of FIM score and body mass index (BMI) in the total sample.

Conclusions: Our study revealed that during the first 12 wks, rehabilitation is statistically significantly less effective in overweight and, particularly, in obese patients (evaluated by BMI). We also found a statistically significant negative association between the individual's BMI and relative improvement of the FIM score, representing the functional status of the stroke patient.