Association of Stroke disability with physical activity and Activities of daily life

JRCRS 2019; 7(1): 17-20

Abstract

Background: Impairments mostly associated with stroke patients include functional reduction and motor impairments which is referred to as physical disability. However, there is limited evidence available from different countries about the exact incidence and prevalence of stroke. Also the severity with which stroke affects different functions of the body and etiology of death after stroke is not fully known.

Objectives: The main objective of the study was to determine frequency of stroke related disability and its association with various factors.

Material and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from March to July, 2015 which recruited 168 diagnosed patients of stroke of either gender using non probability convenient sampling. Data was collected from 10 different hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad using Modified Rankin Scale for disability, Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity (RAPA) to assess physical activity level, Barthel scale for activities of daily life and Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) for smoking habits. After collection, data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.

Results: Out of a total of 168 stroke participants, 113 (66.5%) were males and 55 (32.4%) were females. 1.8% suffered from slight disability, 9.4% from moderate disability, 25.3% from moderately severe disability and 51.2% from severe disability. According to the results, a significant association of disability was found with physical activity and activities of daily life (P<0.05) whereas no association of disability was found with age and nicotine dependence with p-value = 0.08 and 0.46, respectively.

Conclusion: It is concluded that there is an association between disability and physical activity. Majority suffered severe disability and physical dependence in activities of daily living. Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension and cardiac problems were more prevalent in most cases.