INTRODUCTION 

The sudden development of a focal neurological deficit is namely defined as stroke. The common cause of stroke is either embolic arterial occlusion or bleeding in the brain (Internet Stroke Center 2008). Kapral et al. (2005) found that approximately 80% of all strokes were ischaemic and 20% were haemorrhagic. Moreover, stroke can cause a prolong disability among the post stroke survivors that can significantly affect their activity daily living. This is due to the result of stroke-related damage to important part of the neurological domains such as sensory and motor (Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario & Registered Nurses Association of Ontario 2005.). According to Rosamond et al. (2008), approximately 15% to 30% of stroke survivors have permanent disability. Despite, medical and surgical treatment for stroke having improved over years, rehabilitation therapy plays a major role to regain the functional ability of stroke survivors.  

The aim of rehabilitation therapy for the stroke survivors is to return them to the society with functional abilities. This could be achieved by recovery of the stroke deficits that may include deficits in cognition and functional abilities (Bendz 2003; World Health Organization 2002). On the other hand, the effect of stroke disability which causes impairments to physical and neurological that leads to handicapped individuals (Burton 2000). Therefore, the goal of rehabilitation therapy is to maximize the functional ability for stroke survivors (World Health Organization 2002). In line with this goal, many stroke survivors start their rehabilitation therapy as soon as possible after experiencing the event.  This is to regain their mobility as soon as possible that will allow them to be safely functioning in their home environment. 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The present study was conducted among consecutive stroke survivors who visited a rehabilitation clinic at one of the teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. The participants were recruited from October 2009 to January 2010. Only patients with first-time stroke with CT scan showed lesions compatible with their neurological symptoms were included. Prior to the collection of data, the researchers performed a Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) to assess their cognitive level of functioning. Those patients with severely impaired of cognitive functioning (MMSE<24), severe aphasia, language problems (unable to understand the Malay, English or others language) even after being assisted by researcher or the patient’s proxy,  children with stroke, stroke patients with other neurological problems such as meningitis and, those with less than one month post-stroke duration were excluded from this study.

An explanation about the study was given to all the patients and a written consent was obtained from them. The study was approved by the Medical 

Research Ethics Committee of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre. Those patients that met  the   inclusion criteria  were be asessed on their disability with Modified Barthel Index (MBI) questionaire. The MBI assessment scale was used to assess the basic functional status. This  questionnaire consisted of ten activities of daily living. Out of ten daily living activities, eight were self-care activities which included feeding, transfer from chair to bed and back, grooming, toileting, bathing, dressing, bowel continence and bladder continence. The other two activities were mobility-related activities such as walking or propelling a wheelchair on a level surface 50 yards with or without devices or protheses, ascending and descending stairs. The MBI scale was used to define the level of functional dependency and furher it can be subcategerised into five levels of functional dependency. The additional data on their post stroke duration was revealed from cleckship. 

All the data collected for this study were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 for Windows®.  Descriptive statistics was performed to determine  the socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, and living arrangement and clinical characteristics like post-stroke duration and levels of functioning. The criterion for statistical significance was identified by a two–tailed probability value of p< 0.05.

RESULTS 

Socio-demographic characteristics 

The mean age of 195 participants was 61 years (SD= 13.86, range = 22-87). Majority of participants were Chinese 100 (51. 3). There were 189 (96.92 %) still supported and stayed with their spouses/relatives. 

Clinical characteristics

The participants had duration of post-stroke which range from minimum 1 month to maximum 79 months with median of 12 months.Their functional status was showed in the Table 1.  

The relationships between post stroke duration with functional status 

A Chi- square test for independence indicated there was significant relationship between post-stroke duration with functional status,χ2 (2, n=195) =6.455, p<0.05, phi = 0.182. Those patients between the duration of post-stroke 13-24 months were independent (52.1) than ≤ 12 months and ≥ 24 months. 

DISCUSSION 

In the present study, the functional status in performing their daily life activity were categorized into two categories. The participants were categorized into dependent and independent stage. The present study found that most of the participants were still fall into the group of dependent. This was due to most of them being in the duration of acute rehabilition process. This fact was similiar to an earlier study by Eriksson et al. (2008) where they found 73.1% of  those post stroke survivals in the early phase to be still in the independent stage. They were involved in acute stage of rehabilitation and still depend to other for their daily living activities. Thus, the early stage of stroke was the common period for stroke survivors to have the deterioration of their  functioning status. 

It was found that the duration of post-stroke had an impact on functional status among  the post- stroke survivors. In this study, the post stroke survivors of 13–24 months had better tolerence and high independency compared to those in less 12 months or more 24 months of post stroke durtaion. This study was similar to Elmstahl et al. (1996) whereby they found the post stroke survivors after one year of rehabilitation therapy had better functional status. This is due to the stroke survivors tend to recover better after one year of the rehabilitaion process. However, their functional status tend to decline  after 24 months of post stroke duration. One of the common reasons this could happen was due to aging process of the stroke survivors and the reduced of rehabilitation therapy activity (Wolfe et al. 2002).  

CONCLUSION 

In conclusion, the post-stroke survivals those follow–up the rehabilitation therapy process more then one year have better functional status on their activity daily life. However, it depends on the severity of the stroke. Thus, those with mild stroke have better recovery outcome after a year of rehabilitation therapy.