Objective: To examine changes in functional status and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) during inpatient stroke rehabilitation to examine the associations between changes in the two measures.
Design: Two independently collected databases were combined for a retrospective analysis. One contained the objectively assessed FIM score; the other contained the subjectively assessed Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short form (SF-36). Admission and discharge scores were compared using paired-samples t tests. Associations between the FIM outcomes and the SF-36 outcomes were assessed by means of Pearson's product-moment correlations.
Results: One hundred sixteen patients were represented in both databases. Mean age was 71.4 yrs; 59 (51.1%) were female. All FIM scores, four of eight SF-36 domains, and one summary component score showed statistically significant improvement during the course of rehabilitation. Changes in SF-36 were not strongly associated with changes in FIM score, with only 6 of 90 correlations attaining statistical significance.
Conclusions: Functional status and HRQOL improved considerably over the course of rehabilitation. However, there was poor association between the two outcomes. Both instruments offer insights into outcomes of inpatient rehabilitation, but they are complementary rather than overlapping.