Does Early Rehabilitation Admission Improve Functional Outcomes of Stroke Patients after a Short Hospital Stay? A Thai Retrospective Study on 596 Patients

Abstract

Background: It remains unknown whether inpatient rehabilitation lasting three weeks or less, following one or two weeks of acute-phase treatment for stroke patients at Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University (SH-MU), Thailand, is effective, especially when the beginning is deferred. Objective: To examine functional outcomes (FO) of short hospitalized rehabilitation (SHR) for stroke patients with three different stroke onsets to rehabilitation admission intervals (SOTRAI), and to determine whether there are any differences in FO regarding SOTRAI. Materials and Methods: The investigators conducted a retrospective cohort study of medical records on inpatient rehabilitated at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, SH-MU. The investigators enrolled a cohort of stroke patients who underwent SHR at a Thai university-based, quaternary-care medical center between 2015 and 2019. The predictor variable was SOTRAI, categorized as early, which is 30 days or less, early-late, which is 31 to 90 days, and late, which is more than 90 days. The FO variables were the modified Barthel Index (MBI) score change, rehabilitation efficiency, and effectiveness, and percentages of responders. Appropriate statistics were computerized with the significant level at p-value less than 0.05. Results: Five hundred ninety-six patients, with 44.8% females and 45.8% early SOTRAI, with the mean age of 65.3±13.4 years (range of 19 to 94) were included. Early SOTRAI was associated with the highest FO parameters (p<0.001). Conclusion: Stroke survivors should be apt to SHR within 30 days after the symptoms begin. In other words, early SOTRAI could help improve FO, compared with late SOTRAI.