Validity of Incontinence as a Predictive Factor after Stroke

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify empirically that incontinence after cerebrovascular disease has validity for prognosis or prediction of ADL. We classified 116 hemiplegia patients into 2 groups, incontinence and continence, then stratified the incontinence group into a resolved group and a continuing group, and compared Barthel index scores on admission to hospital, and three months and six months after admission for each group. Since the Barthel index contains an item for incontinence, we made the full score 80 points to exclude the influence of this item. The incontinence group comprised 64% of the patients and had a significantly lower score than the continence group 6 months after hospital admission. It was revealed that incontinence has the validity for prognosis or prediction of ADL between incontinent and continent patients. Since, incontinence on entering hospital is a changing factor in the subsequent treatment process, by stratifying the incontinence group into a resolved group and continuing group, it became clear that the prognosis of the resolved group was good. Incontinence as a single factor alone on entering hospital is not enough to predict the prognosis of incontinence being resolved, it is suggested that consideration is needed to take account of patients' changing condition after entering hospital.