ABSTRACT
The study was designed to determine the functional outcome after rehabilitation in young stroke patients using both the Modified Barthel and Motoricity Indices at the end of the 1[st] week, 3[rd] week and 6[th] month of stroke. Fifty young stroke patients were included. Their age ranged from 18 years to 40 years old with a mean of [34.8] +/- 4.7 Thirty-two patients were males and 18 were females. First week variables were of great importance in predicting functional outcome in young stroke patients including the level of motor loss as recorded with the Motoricity Index, activities of daily living recorded with the Modified Barthel Index, presence of sensory deficit, and presence of aphasia, sphincteric disturbances or affected consciousness. All these variables significantly affect functional outcome in young stroke patients. In the present study an interesting finding was that the change in the Modified Barthel Index was relative to Motoricity Index changes in patients who demonstrated considerable motor gain and documented recovery post- stroke. Patients with cortical stroke had less functional gains than those with subcortical and brain stem stroke. Young stroke patients with a right-sided lesion had less functional gains than patients with lesions on the left side. Functional outcome according to the type of stroke whether, hemorrhagic or ischemic showed no difference. No significant difference was found in the functional outcome between males and females. Functional outcome among those of age