Eating and Grooming Abilities Predict Outcomes in Patients with Early Middle Cerebral Infarction: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Yumi Suzuki, Sachiko Tsubakino, Hiromi Fujii
PMID 32536832WHAT IT FOUND
Early eating and grooming ability, along with hand recovery stage, helped predict whether people after middle cerebral artery stroke went home rather than to another facility.
Clinicians can observe these simple bedside tasks soon after admission.
Key findings
01Higher early hand recovery stage, better grooming, and better eating were associated with discharge home rather than to another facility.
02The model correctly classified the discharge destination in 84.7% of cases.
03The paper reports cutoff values for returning home as hand recovery stage IV, eating score 5, and grooming score 4.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study used data from one hospital department, so discharge practices and expectations may not match other services. It was retrospective, based on records rather than a planned data collection. The first assessment could occur at any time within four days, so timing was not standardized. Some patients had needed care before the stroke, and the analysis did not correct for this. The outcome was discharge destination, not a direct measure of recovery or long-term function. The study did not test whether helping eating or grooming changes outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving eating or grooming will change discharge destination; this was an observational prediction study from one hospital, and the reported cutoffs were not tested in other services.