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(Stroke. 2006;37:2218.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Long-Term Outcome After Stroke Evaluating Health-Related Quality of Life Using Utility Measurement

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Fondazione Don C Gnocchi, Università Cattolica, Rome, Italy

Enrico Di Stasio, MD

Institute of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Università Cattolica, Rome, Italy

Pietro Tonali, MD Luca Padua, MD, PhD

Department of Neurology, Fondazione Don C Gnocchi, Università Cattolica, Rome, Italy

Diana B. Piazzini, MD Carlo Bertolini, MD

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Università Cattolica, Rome, Italy

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

To the Editor:

We read with great interest the article by Haacke et al¹ published in Stroke. Recently, we performed a similar study on an Italian stroke survivors sample, and we believe we can give a further contribution to this important topic.

As Haacke underlined, the factors that contribute to the reduced quality of life (QoL) were not systematically investigated in long-term follow-up stroke survivors and only few studies have used measures to assess QoL.

We performed a multidimensional study through traditional parameters and validated QoL measurements. Our study included all chronic stroke patients who were admitted for physical rehabilitation at the Don C. Gnocchi Foundation of Rome, between January 2002 and September 2004. A total of 72 patients were evaluated through: (1) clinical assessment, using the European Stroke Scale (ESS), (2) self-administered questionnaire for general health (SF-36), and (3) standardized disability measurements (Barthel Index and modified Rankin Scale). SF-36 consists of 36 questions that inquire about the general health status of patients.

Before examination, we acquired personal data for each patient: code of patient, age, sex, educational level, job, living conditions (if the patient lived alone or with family), duration of disease and concomitant diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease). Both patients, living alone and living with family, were aided by a caregiver for their daily activity.

The complete protocol was performed before (admission, T0) and after rehabilitation (discharge, T1). A 2-month follow-up from the discharge was performed by phone administration of SF-36. The rehabilitation program consisted of 6-times per-week . . . [Full Text of this Article]