Telephone Assessment of Stroke Outcome Is Reliable

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To the Editor: The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthel Index (BI) are often used to evaluate long-term outcome in stroke studies.1–3 However, there are several potential problems with their use. An investigator’s knowledge of the clinical data may bias scoring of the scales, and direct patient contact for outcome assessment months after the stroke is not always feasible. Telephone interviews can simplify study design and potentially avoid investigator bias. Telephone interviews have been used prospectively in stroke studies to evaluate clinical outcome, functioning and disability after stroke, cognitive status, stroke-free status, and cognitive function in community outpatients.4,5 Newcommon …