Functional independence measured in the acute phase of stroke predicts both generic and specific health-related quality of life: a 3-month prospective study in a middle-income country.

Purpose: To identify acute predictors of both generic and specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) 3 months after stroke in individuals from a middle-income country.

Materials And Methods: A 3-month prospective study with individuals who had suffered their first stroke, without previous disability, discharged from a stroke unit. The dependent outcomes, assessed 3 months after stroke, were generic and specific HRQoL (SF-36 and SSQOL total scores, respectively). The predictors assessed in the stroke unit were age, sex, education level, duration of hospital stay, current living arrangement, stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale-NIHSS), functional independence (Modified Barthel Index-MBI), motor impairment (Fugl-Meyer Assessment), and lower- and upper-limb residual muscle strength deficits. Linear multiple regression analyses were employed to identify predictors of both generic (model-1) and specific (model-2) HRQoL (α = 5%).

Results: One hundred twenty-six individuals were assessed at 3-month post-stroke (61.3 ± 13.6 years). Regression analysis showed that functional independence was the best predictor of both generic ( = 21%;  = 34.82;  < 0.001) and specific ( = 29%;  = 51.71;  < 0.001) HRQoL at 3-month post-stroke.

Conclusion: Both generic and specific HRQoL at 3-month post-stroke can be predicted by functional independence assessed in the acute phase with the MBI.