The stroke rehabilitation outcome study: Part II. Relative merits of the total Barthel index score and a four-item subscore in predicting patient outcomes.

Part I of this series described the background of the study; the characteristics of the patient population; and their functional status before onset of stroke, at rehabilitation admission, at discharge, and at six months after discharge. Results at follow-up showed that patients with higher Barthel index scores living in the community were more likely to be satisfied with life in general, to have more person-to-person contacts, and to be more active in community affairs. Part II describes the utility of two sets of data derived from the admission Barthel index (combinations of independent performance of four basic items of the index vs the total score) in predicting the likely range of Barthel index scores at discharge and functional outcomes at six-month follow-up.