To determine the rates of manual and powered wheelchair use at discharge for people with stroke admitted to a rehabilitation center and to determine whether any predictors of wheelchair use at discharge could be identified.
Retrospective cohort study.
Rehabilitation center.
Consecutive former inpatients (N=100) with a primary diagnosis of stroke, a sample of convenience.
None.
We reviewed the inpatient health records to determine the rates of wheelchair use at discharge and to record some readily available demographic and clinical data that might serve as predictors of wheelchair use.
At discharge, 40 people (40%) were using manual wheelchairs, 1 person (1%) was using a powered wheelchair, and 59 (59%) were not using a wheelchair. Of the patients who were walkers on admission (ie, walking FIM scores of 6 or 7), none (0%) used wheelchairs at discharge. Of those with nonwalking FIM scores (1-5) on admission, 56% were using wheelchairs at discharge. Multivariate analyses revealed that the adjusted odds ratios of using a wheelchair (manual or powered) were 3.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-8.33) for those with left-hemisphere versus right-hemisphere strokes (P=.010), .94 (CI, .91-.96) for each point rise in the total raw FIM score on admission (P