Long-Term Outcome After Stroke Evaluating Health-Related Quality of Life Using Utility Measurement

To the Editor: We read with great interest the article by Haacke et al1 published in Stroke . Recently, we performed a similar study on an Italian stroke survivors sample, and we believe we can give a further contribution to this important topic. As Haacke underlined, the factors that contribute to the reduced quality of life (QoL) were not systematically investigated in long-term follow-up stroke survivors and only few studies have used measures to assess QoL. We performed a multidimensional study through traditional parameters and validated QoL measurements. Our study included all chronic stroke patients who were admitted for physical rehabilitation at the Don C. Gnocchi Foundation of Rome, between January 2002 and September 2004. A total of 72 patients were evaluated through: (1) clinical assessment, using the European Stroke Scale (ESS), (2) self-administered questionnaire for general health (SF-36), and (3) standardized disability measurements (Barthel Index and modified Rankin Scale). SF-36 consists of 36 questions that inquire about the …

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