The life area of stroke patients living at home influences the changes in their activities of daily living

Abstract

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of life area on the change in activities of daily living (ADL) of stroke patients. [Subjects] The subjects were 117 stroke patients. [Method] We mailed a questionnaire and performed a follow up after one year. We divided subjects on the basis of activities in town of less than 1∼3 times a week, as low and high activity groups, respectively. For statistical analysis, we performed the unpaired t-test, the Mann-Whitney U test, correlation analysis, and step-wise regression analysis. [Results] We found the degree of change of the Barthel index of low activity subjects and those needing care had significantly low values, and regression analysis identified life area as an independent factor of it. [Conclusion] The results suggest that to improve or maintain ADL of patients with stroke who are living at home, they need to go out to town 1∼3 times or more a week. © 2012, The Society of Physical Therapy Science. All rights reserved.