Abstract T P312: The Addition of the Post Stroke Checklist to Standard Outcome Measures Provides Unique Information Relevant to Stroke Recovery

Abstract

Background: The Post Stroke Checklist (PSC) is an easily administered, recently developed clinical tool to identify unmet needs in stroke patients. The relative value of the PSC compared to other outcome measures has yet to be determined. Method: We evaluated 126 ischemic stroke patients (median age 68, range 31-97) 30 days following discharge in the outpatient clinic of our Comprehensive Stroke Center. Items were originally scored by a nurse and reviewed with a stroke physician. The PSC was administered to all patients as well as the Barthel Index (BI) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS). We stratified each scale according to severity and identified actionable PSC items in each severity group. Using Fisher’s Exact Test we searched for correlation between the total number of PSC items scored positively and the total score of other outcome measures. We also looked for correlations between individual PSC items and other outcome scores. Results: The median (range) BI was 100 (10-100) and mRS was 1 (0-4). We stratified each outcome measure into 2 groups: BI-S (more severe) 0-89 (n=23) and BI-L (less severe) 90-100 (n=103); mRS-S (more severe) 3-5 (n=23) and mRS-L (less severe) 0-2 (n=103). 79 patients responded positively to one or more items in the PSC. There was no difference in total positive scores for any of the stratified groups, mRS (p=0.69) and BI (p=0.28). The frequency of positive responses for individual patients ranged from 1 to 6. The most common items identified are listed in the table below. No significant differences were noted. Conclusion: The PSC is simple to administer and was well accepted by clinicians and patients. Depression/Anxiety, Cognitive Dysfunction, Instrumental ADL’s, and New Onset Pain are not included in the BI and mRS but are easily identified using the PSC. Our results suggest that the PSC provides important information about these unmet needs in stroke patients independent of stroke severity.