Monitoring changes in locomotion-related daily life activities in post-stroke patients: the responsiveness of ABILOCO-Benin questionnaire.

Abstract

To investigate the responsiveness of ABILOCO-Benin questionnaire, a West-African adapted questionnaire of performance in locomotion-related daily-life activities in adults with stroke. We conducted a longitudinal study involving 81 stroke patients (mean (SD) age: 54.6 (10.8) years; 58% male, mean (SD) time after stroke onset: 4.3 (2.5) weeks). Participants were assessed at baseline (T1), two-month later (T2), and on average of 1.5 (0.5) years after stroke (T3), with the ABILOCO-Benin questionnaire, functional ambulation classification (FAC), six-minute walking test, ACTIVLIM-Stroke questionnaire, modified Rankin Scale, and Stroke Impairment Assessment Scale. Global-, sub-group- (stable and improved based on FAC scores), and individual-based analysis of changes were performed. Participants showed significantly larger improvement for all outcomes during the acute phase (T1-T2). Changes in the ABILOCO-Benin measures were significantly correlated with changes in other outcome measures. ABILOCO-Benin questionnaire detected a significant improvement in both the stable and improved groups at both T2 and T3 in the sub-group approach. Individual-based analysis with ABILOCO-Benin measures showed a significantly higher proportion of stable patients (<i>n</i> = 55) and lower proportion of improved ones (<i>n</i> = 23) between T2 and T3 (LR(df) = 15.52(4), <i>p</i> = 0.004). ABILOCO-Benin is responsive to changes in adult stroke patients within both acute and chronic phases.