Our purpose is to identify factors, including racial and gender disparities, associated with inpatient rehabilitation after intracerebral hemorrhages (ICH).

ICH leads to significant long-term disability. However, research in stroke recovery and rehabilitation has focused on ischemic strokes. Identifying factors that impact the recovery of function for patients at an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) following an ICH is necessary.

We performed a retrospective analysis of a cohort of ICH patients admitted to the IRF at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from December 2016 through December 2019. Functional performance was measured using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Baseline clinical characteristics, demographics, admission and discharge FIM scores, and ICH characteristics including ICH scores and volumes were collected. FIM efficiency was calculated for all patients by dividing the difference in FIM scores at admission and discharge from the total number of days spent at rehab. The differences in FIM efficiency by gender and race were measured using multiple linear regression.

We evaluated 65 patients (54.4 ± 14.1 years, 61% males, 46% African American) with a median (interquartile range) ICH score of 1.0 (0.0, – 2.0), median ICH volume of 13.4 (4.2, 33.0), and FIM efficiency of 1.6 (1.1, 2.4). In multiple regression, being male was positively associated with FIM efficiency (β=1.02, p=0.0063) when adjusting for race and ICH score. The FIM efficiency was lower in African Americans (β=-0.95, p=0.0092) when adjusting for gender and ICH volume. No significant differences were noted in ICH volumes and scores with respect to discharge FIM scores.

FIM efficiency, is a good measure of improvement in motor function and ADLs over the rehab period. Our results indicate that African American women could potentially benefit from longer periods of rehabilitation intervention.