Background: Stroke survivors often experience various problems which may impact their qualities of life if not sufficiently addressed. Post-stroke problems beyond functional disabilities are often neglected and may not be picked up by caregivers/clinicians for further management.

Aim: We aimed to study post-stroke complications reported by a cohort of ischemic stroke patients in Singapore and compare them with complication burden perceived by their caregivers using the Post-Stroke Checklist (PSC). 

Methods: We surveyed 40 ischemic stroke patients (median age 68.5 years) and their caregivers at 3 months post-stroke, to assess for post-stroke complications. The 13-questions PSC was administered separately to patients and their caregivers via telephone interview by trained study coordinators.

Results: The mean problem number from patients’ survey was 3.7 (±2.9), while it was 3.0 (±2.9) from the caregivers’ survey.  There was good agreement (92.5%) for the questions on problems with activities of daily living. However, disagreements were greater for mood (27.5%), absence of secondary prevention (25%), cognition (25%), personal relationships (22.5%) and other challenges interfering with recovery (30%). Differing opinions in other areas were: mobility (17.5%), spasticity (20%), pain (17.5%), incontinence (20%), communication (20%), life after stroke (15%) and fatigue (17.5%).  

Conclusion: There was good concordance for some aspects of the PSC between patients and caregivers, which were more observable. However, there are other aspects with poor agreement possibly because they were more subjective and not demonstrated outwardly. It is important to consider these findings when screening consequences of stroke and to appropriately consider the opinions from caregivers.

OPINIONS ON POST STROKE COMPLICATIONS FROM ISCHEMIC STROKE PATIENTS AND THEIR CAREGIVERS AT 3-MONTHS POST STROKE