Residual mobility problems after stroke.

At final follow-up 2-7 years after their first stroke, 328 survivors from the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project register were assessed for mobility disability. Patients were classified as being either mobile or immobile, according to defined criteria. Of the 190 immobile patients, only 60 could be entered into a trial of physiotherapy. The major causes of attrition were refusal to participate (97 patients) and the absence of any stroke impairment causing the immobility (18). Arthritis (67) and dementia (39) were common in patients with mobility disability. Immobile patients were older and had suffered a more severe index stroke. This study stresses the relatively low frequency of long-term immobility following stroke directly due to stroke-induced impairments.