Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases
Original ArticleOropharyngeal Dysphagia after Stroke: Incidence, Diagnosis, and Clinical Predictors in Patients Admitted to a Neurorehabilitation Unit
Section snippets
Methods
In all, 151 consecutive inpatients admitted to our neurorehabilitation unit between January 2005 and December 2006 with diagnosis of previous ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke were enrolled in this study. All patients were transferred to the neurorehabilitation unit after the acute phase, with a mean length of stay on intensive care unit of 13 days (range 6-21).
Patients with a history of head and neck damage, history of neurologic disease other than cerebrovascular disorders, or current dysphagia
Results
The patients were admitted with a mean LCF of 6.31 (range 3-8) and FIM of 45.9 (range 18-106). Mean FIM at discharge was 59.6 (range 18-129), with a mean increment of 13.7. The mean length of stay on neurorehabilitation unit was 29.9 days (range 6-93).
Imaging techniques demonstrated no previous cerebrovascular disease in 17 of 151 patients, diffuse cerebrovascular disease in 110 of 151, and a previous stroke in 24 of 151. The prevalence of lesion location of the recent stroke is reported in
Discussion
Dysphagia is a common complication after stroke, but its prevalence is widely discrepant in the various studies, ranging between 29%1 and 81%.2, 3 The frequency of dysphagia in rehabilitation studies ranges widely between 25%26 and 81%.2 These prevalences are probably dependent on which method is used for the diagnosis, the time from stroke, and the severity of stroke in the case study.
The results of this study have been derived from a hospital-referred cohort of consecutive patients with
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