Predicting recovery of upper-body dressing ability after stroke.

Objective: To identify predictors of the recovery of independent dressing ability after stroke.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Rehabilitation unit at a university hospital.

Participants: Sixty-three consecutive stroke patients were enrolled in the study. Twelve patients were not able to complete the study because they were discharged or transferred to another hospital before study completion.

Intervention: Fifty-one patients underwent and completed 15 days of dressing training based on the time-delay method, which included the 10 component actions of upper-body dressing and 4 cues given by therapists.

Main Outcome Measures: The dressing item of the FIM instrument, Brunnstrom motor recovery stages, presence or absence of deep and tactile sensation, Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test, Kohs block design test, body image test, Weintraub cancellation task, and presence or absence of the visual extinction phenomenon and the motor impersistence phenomenon.

Results: The FIM upper-body dressing item score and the cancellation task score at the start of training were significantly better in patients who achieved independence in dressing within 15 training days than in patients who did not (P < .05). The motor impersistence phenomenon was found less frequently among patients who achieved independence in upper-body dressing than among patients who did not (P < .05). However, logistic regression analysis showed that only the FIM score for upper-body dressing on the first day of training was a significant independent predictor of dressing ability at the end of training (odds ratio, 4.33; 95% confidence interval, 1.51-12.37). The receiver operating characteristic curve indicated that a cutoff score of 3 would provide the best balance between sensitivity and specificity for the FIM upper-body dressing item. The positive predictive value of this cutoff score was .90, and the negative predictive value was .70.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the FIM upper-body dressing score on the first day of dressing training is an independent predictor of recovery of upper-body dressing ability after stroke.