Examination of the hospitalization factors of the cut-down period in knee-ankle foot orthosis prescription patients with stroke hemiplegia

Abstract

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to identify the hospitalization factors that affect the cut-down period in knee-ankle foot orthosis prescription. [Subjects and Methods] The subjects were 43 patients with stroke hemiplegia who were hospitalized in our convalescence rehabilitation ward and had a cut-down to only ankle-foot orthosis (AFO) after knee-ankle-foot orthosis (KAFO) had been prescribed. A correlation analysis was conducted between the cut-down period and age, disease type, type of unilateral spatial neglect (USN), lower limb Brunnstrom recovery stage (BRS), USN severity, motor Functional Independence Measure (mFIM), and cognitive FIM (cFIM) to determine the factors that affect the cut-down period. In addition, items related to the cut-down period were subjected to a binomial logistic regression analysis to determine the degree of independent influence of each factor. [Results] The items that were associated with the cut-down period were USN severity, lower limb BRS, mFIM, and cFIM. The binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that USN severity is an independent regulatory factor of the cutdown period. [Conclusion] The results of this study suggest that USN severity is the hospitalization factor that has the greatest effect on prolongation of the cut-down period.