Abstract
The aim of our study was to evaluate the role of morphogenetic variability in functional outcome of patients with ischemic stroke. The prospective study included 140 patients with acute ischemic stroke, all of whom were tested upon: admission; discharge; one month post-discharge; and three months post-discharge. The age was analyzed, as well. The Functional Independence Measure (FIM) test and the Barthel Index (BI) were used for the evaluation of functional outcomes for the eligible participants. We analyzed the presence of 19 homozygous recessive characteristics (HRC) in the studied individuals. There was a significant change in FIM values at discharge (p = 0.033) and in BI values upon admission (p = 0.012) with regards to the presence of different HRCs. Age significantly negatively correlated for the FIM score and BI values at discharge for the group with 5 HRCs (p < 0.05), while for BI only, negative significant correlation was noticed for the group with 5 HRCs at three months post-discharge (p < 0.05), and for the group with 3 HRCs at one month post-discharge (p < 0.05) and three months post-discharge (p < 0.05). Morphogenetic variability might be one among potentially numerous factors that could have an impact on the response to defined treatment protocols for neurologically-impaired individuals who suffered an ischemic stroke.
Highlights
Most stroke patients demonstrate functional improvements over time
For evaluation and quantification of variability that can be explained between different functional scores in defined time of observation among individuals with different amount of homozygous recessive characteristics (HRC), we introduced η2 = Sum of squares (Between groups)/Sum of squares (Total) × 100, where sum of squares was gained from the one-way ANOVA test, and the results were presented as percentage
As the number of HRCs increased, there was a decrease in Functional Independence Measure (FIM) score in Group 2 and Group 3; in Group 1 and Group 4, patients with three and four HRCs had higher FIM scores versus those with 5–8 HRCs, pointing to the unchanged trend that an increased level of genetic homozygosity leads to a less favorable FIM score
Summary
Most stroke patients demonstrate functional improvements over time. Such improvements might be connected with compensatory processes, that could be to the certain degree explained by the brain spasticity [1]. Previous studies have evaluated the role of candidate genes on neurological deficit, functional ability, and social participation in stroke patients [2,3,4]. The presence of different variations of functional outcomes after a stroke is still not fully elucidated. This might be explained by the fact that different parts of the brain, along with different degrees of neurological injury and present comorbidities, influence an individual’s functional recovery potential.
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