Rehabilitation of the elderly patient with stroke: an analysis of short-term and long-term results

All 104 patients, aged 65 years and older, admitted to our rehabilitation unit during the years 1984-1987 were studied. It was the objective to get data on the extent of hospital care, functional outcome and the situation of living 2-5 years after discharge. During inpatient rehabilitation, an equal improvement in activities of daily living (ADL) for patients 65-74 years of age as well as for patients older than 75 years was found. In spite of these findings, older patients had to be discharged to institutional care more often than younger patients. Furthermore, the old patient group had a greater drop of functional abilities at the time of follow-up than the young patient group. Of the 86 patients originally returning home, 84% were still living at home or had been living at home when death occurred, whereas only 16% had been admitted to institutional care during the follow-up period. At the time of follow-up, two-thirds of the surviving patients assessed their health status as equal or improved, compared with the time of discharge. In our patients, deterioration of health status was predominantly due to causes other than the original stroke.