Disability Levels and Associated Factors of Functional Dependence among Stroke Survivors in South-South, Nigeria

Background: Cerebral Stroke remains a public health problem impacting a wide range of human functionality. It continues to be a leading cause of adulthood disability world-wide. This study aimed to identify disability levels and factors associated with functional dependence among survivors of stroke in south-south, Nigeria.

Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to recruit stroke survivors receiving physiotherapy from two tertiary hospitals in South-south Nigeria. The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) was used to identify disability levels. Data was analysed using student ANOVA and Pearson correlational coefficient analysis, with significance set at P=0.05.

Results: Significant difference in disability levels occurred across the age (p <0.001) and marital status (p <0.001) of the respondents. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA) in Table 3, The co-morbidities - diabetes and hypertension were significantly associated with higher disability (diabetes F= 4.80(P <0.030); hypertension F = 22.41(P <0.001)), Having a previous stroke (F=8.08(P <0.005) and the type of stroke- haemorrhagic (F= 12.28; P <0.001) were associated with higher disability levels. Higher disability levels were associated with all aspects of the at-home care.

Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that advancing age, a previous stroke, type of stroke (hemorrhagic) and the presence of co-morbidities of hypertension and diabetes presented with statistically significant higher disability levels among our patients.