Long-term motor, functional, and academic outcome following childhood ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke: A large rehabilitation center-based retrospective study

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the long-term outcomes following childhood ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Methods: This was a retrospective study, looking at children consecutively admitted to a rehabilitation department following childhood stroke. We collected demographic, medical, and severity data, motor deficit, cognitive assessment, and long-term academic outcome. Results: One hundred and twenty-eight children were included, following arterial ischemic (AIS; n = 46) or hemorrhagic (HS; n = 82) stroke. At discharge, motor deficit was still present in 70% of children (versus 89% immediately after stroke). HS predicted significantly better motor and functional outcomes than AIS. After a median follow-up of 43 months, 40% received special education. The receipt of special education was predicted by persistent motor deficit, but when full-scale IQ was taken into account, IQ was the only significant predictor of special education. Conclusions: Childhood stroke leads to severe and long lasting motor, functional, cognitive, and academic impairments, in a population of children admitted in a rehabilitation department.

Keywords:

• Academic outcome
• arterial ischemic stroke
• childhood stroke
• functional
• hemorrhagic stroke
• long-term outcome

Acknowledgments

This work was performed as a part of Estelle Yvon’s Medical thesis. Preliminary results were presented at the 19th European Congress of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine in Marseille, France, on May 28, 2014 and at the first Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Conference in Liverpool, UK, September 16-18, 2015. We thank Doctor Jenny Limond for her careful proof-reading of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was partly funded by Saint Maurice Hospitals and the French National Reference Centre for Childhood Stroke.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partly funded by Saint Maurice Hospitals and the French National Reference Centre for Childhood Stroke.