AIM: To explore effects of rehabilitation training on the quality of life in stroke patients by observing the quality of life in stroke patients during different duration. METHODS: Seventy patients with stroke, who were treated in Department of Emergency and Department of Neurology, First-People's Affiliated Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, were selected between April 2002 and August 2003, including 40 male cases, 30 female cases, aged 42 to 79 years old, and 50 cerebral infarction cases, 20 cerebral hemorrhage cases, taking part in this experiment voluntarily. All cases were divided into rehabilitation treatment group (n = 35) and control group (n = 35) in randomized block design. (1) Rehabilitation treatment group: The drug treatment of controlling cerebral edema and decreasing cranium press etc was performed in the patients with cerebral hemorrhage. The drug treatment of promoting blood circulation by removing blood stasis and nutrien nerve etc was given in the patients with cerebral infarction. The one-to-one rehabilitation training was performed for 6 months at the average course of (12.2 +/- 9.2) days at the same time. The training content included mainly putting good posture, turning the body over training, self-assistance exercises on the bed (pluging the two hands, bridge-like movement, shifting on the bed, controlling the coax), the passive motion of upper limb, trunk and lower limb, sit-decubitus training, face, tongue, lip muscle training, breath control training, balance control training, standing training, concordant training of every joint, gait training and activities of daily living training etc. (2) The routine treatment in the department of neurology in the patients of control group was the same as that in the rehabilitation treatment group, while the rehabilitative therapist did not do any rehabilitation training or instruction. (3) The patients in the two groups were assess by Chinese edition of the World Health Organization quality of life scale (including physiological health, psychological state, social relation and the relation with surroundings, self-quality of life, the subjective feeling of health status and synthetical self-assessment of quality of life etc, totally 29 questions) at the moment of selecting and 1, 3 and 6 months of progress by the same physician. RESULTS: (1) The first month of progress: sixty-six cases were involved in the result analysis among the 70 included patients, 32 cases in the rehabilitation group (2 patients with cerebral infarction refused to follow up after discharging, and 1 patient died), 34 cases in the control group (1 patient died), and the scores of every item of the quality of life in the patients of the two groups were similar (p > 0.05). (2) At 3 months of progress: sixty-four patients were involved in the result analysis, 30 cases in the rehabilitation group (2 patients died), 34 patients in the control group, and the scores of every item of the quality of life in the patients of the rehabilitation treatment group was higher than that in the control group (physiological health: 12.94 +/- 1.58, 11.00 +/- 2.30; psychological state: 13.14 +/- 0.81, 12.10 +/- 1.05; social relation: 14.92 +/- 0.74,14.25 +/- 0.87; relation with the surroundings: 12.99 +/- 1.29, 12.08 +/- 1.69; subjective feeling of self-quality of life: 3.32 +/- 0.48, 2.84 +/- 0.63; subjective feeling of self-health status: 3.32 +/- 0.55, 2.56 +/- 0.72; synthetical self-assessment of quality of life: 74.93 +/- 6.76, 71.19 +/- 6.40, t = 2.20 to 4.56, p = 0.032 to 0.000). (3) At 6 months of progress: sixty-three patients were involved in the result analysis, 29 eases in the rehabilitation group (1 patient died), 34 cases in the control group. The scores of every item of the quality of life in the rehabilitation treatment group were higher than that in the control group (physiological health: 13.50 +/- 1.69, 11.98 +/- 2.31; psychological state: 13.36 +/- 0.93, 12.38 +/- 1.51; social relation: 15.01 +/- 0.78,14.37 +/- 0.81; relation with the surroundings: 14.06 +/- 0.92, 12.75 +/- 1.35; subjective feeling of self-quality of life: 3.25 +/- 0.59, 2.91 +/- 0.53; subjective feeling of self-health status: 3.46 +/- 0.58, 2.66 +/- 0.79; synthetical self-assessment of quality of life; 77.57 +/- 6.24, 72.90 +/- 6.33, t = 2.39 to 4.48, p < 0.020 to 0.000). CONCLUSION: The scores of every item of quality of life in patients, who receive early and comprehensive rehabilitation training at 3 and 6 months of progress, are distinctly enhanced.

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