The Relationship of MMSE to Functional Improvement in Brain Injured Patients

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores to the functional improvement of the brain-injured patients with a traumatic brain injury or cerebrovascular accident. METHOD: Thirty patients who were admitted to a rehabilitation hospital for their initial brain injury were retrospectively studied. Subjects were administerd a MMSE as cognitive assessment and a Functional Independence Measure (FIM) and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) as functional assessment upon referral for the rehabilitation and at discharge. RESULTS: MMSE scores, FIM scores and MBI scores at discharge increased significantly compared to the scores at the start of rehabilitation. The changes of MMSE scores significantly correlated with the changes of FIM scores and MBI scores in 30 brain injured patients (p<0.001). Among the subitems of FIM, the social cognition, communication, self care, and sphincter control were strongly correlated with the MMSE scores. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the MMSE can be a relevant predicting factor for the changes of functional status of brain-injured patients from a inpatient stroke rehabilitation and post brain- injury rehabilitation.