Assessment of balance status and neurophysiological assays in patients with ischemic stroke

Introduction: Stroke is the third most common cause of death and most common debilitating neurological disease with balance disorder as one of its major clinical manifestations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the balance and related neurophysiological measurements in ischemic stroke patients. Methods: Stroke patients with 0 or 1 modified Rankin Scale (mRS) level and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) below 10 was involved in this study. Balance measuring device (BSS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) Questionnaire, Vienna Test System (VTS), paraclinical measurements including transcranial Doppler and MRI were used to evaluate the condition. Results: In evaluation of 58 patients with acute stroke, the average score of the overall stability index was 3.38 ± 1.75. The left-right average was 8.93 ± 67.90 and front-back average was 7.58 ± 133.50. The mean reaction time was 659.64 ± 197.72 milliseconds, which was 17.31 in terms of percentage rank. Also, average movement time was 337.77 ± 146.44, which was equal to 9.18 in terms of percentage rank. Total score was 2.78 ± 4.27, its average percentile rank is 13.27 and time for correct answers was 6.70 ± 1.83, and average percentile rank is 22.50. Sleep quality score of the patients indicated low. Conclusion: Balance, reaction time, follow-up, and sleep disturbance among the studied stroke patients were significantly worse than the community average and in poor range. In addition, it was shown that several factors are effective in balance of stroke patients, and thus paying attention to those factors can be effective in improving the balance.