Functional outcome after brain tumor and acute stroke: a comparative analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the functional outcome, length of stay, and discharge disposition of patients with brain tumors and those with acute stroke.

DESIGN: Case-controlled, retrospective study at a tertiary care medical center inpatient rehabilitation unit.

SUBJECTS: Sixty-three brain tumor patients matched with 63 acute stroke patients according to age, sex, and location of lesion.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The functional independence measure (FIM) was measured on admission and discharge. The FIM change and FIM efficiency were also calculated. The FIM was analyzed in three subsets: activities of daily living (ADL), mobility (MOB), and cognition (COG). Discharge disposition and rehabilitation length of stay were compared.

RESULTS: Demographic variables of race, marital status, and payer source were comparable for the two groups. No significant difference was found between the brain tumor and stroke populations with respect to total admission FIM, total discharge FIM, change in total FIM, or FIM efficiency. The admission MOB-FIM was found to be higher in the brain tumor group (13.6 vs 11.1, p = .04), whereas the stroke group had a greater change in ADL-FIM score (10.8 vs 8.3, p = .03). The two groups had similar rates of discharge to community at greater than 85%. The tumor group had a significantly shorter rehabilitation length of stay than the stroke group (25 vs 34 days, p < .01).

CONCLUSION: Brain tumor patients can achieve comparable functional outcome and rates of discharge to community and have a shorter rehabilitation length of stay than stroke patients.