RESEARCH REPORT POSTER DISPLAY

TWO-POINT DISCRIMINATION AND RELATED FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH STROKE. Yi S¹, Moon J², Ahn S², Kim K²; ¹Dept. of Physical Therapy, Andong Science College, Andong city. ²Dept. of Physical Therapy, Andong General Hospital, Andong city, Republic of Korea

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate two-point discrimination (TPD) and related factors in patients with stroke. RELEVANCE: Two-point discrimination is one of the sensory discriminative modalities, which provides information on the subject’s spatial acuity. This study provides that physical therapists establish the treatment plan for physical therapy in these patients with stroke. PARTICIPANTS: The sample consisted of 40 stroke patients who had received physical therapy at the physical therapy unit of Andong General Hospital in Andong city between January and August 2006 studied. METHODS: Physical therapists measured TPD for patients with stroke. TPD was measured from the tips of the thumb, index, middle, ring, and little finger of each hand with the TPD esthesiometer. The examiner performing the test asked patients to say “one” if they felt it as one point and “two” if they felt it as two. The research was designed to be a cross-sectional measured study. ANALYSIS: SAS statistical software was used for the analysis. The characteristics of the study sample were described by mean and standard deviation (SD) for continuous variables and by frequency and percentage for categorical variables. The Student’s t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare TPD in variables. A Pearson’s correlation analysis was conducted for relationship among values of 5 fingers. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the factors associated with TPD. RESULTS: A total of 40 stroke patients were measured, their average age ± SD was 63.4±10.7 years (range: 34-82 yr). The mean TPD for 5 fingers tips was 8.00±4.31mm (thumb 8.13±4.95mm, index 7.68±4.32mm, middle 7.80±4.21mm, ring 8.08±4.47mm, and little finger 8.33±4.17mm, respectively), while one for unaffected side was 5.23±1.72mm (thumb 5.13±1.40mm, index 5.08±2.08mm, middle 5.20±2.04mm, ring 5.08±1.65mm, and little finger 5.65±2.19mm, respectively). There was a statistically significant difference in weight (p < 0.05), 10.50±5.58mm for 60–69kg in the mean TPD for 5 fingers was highest, 8.49±4.62mm for over 70kg, and 6.17±1.96mm for less than 60kg. Value of Stroke patients with diabetes (10.12±4.71) was statistically higher than patients without (7.09±3.86) in diabetes mellitus (p < 0.05). Factors related to TPD by multiple regressions were age (beta=0.18, p < 0.05) and length of stay (beta=0.06, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, age and length of stay were significantly associated with TPD. We recommend that further research should measure TPD by using larger sample sizes and more sensitive measurement instruments. IMPLICATIONS: The results of this study provided physical therapists with information to establish the treatment plan for physical therapy in the stroke patients. KEYWORDS: Stroke, Two-Point Discrimination (TPD), Related factors. FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We thank Byeong-yeol Chun, MD, PhD, for statistical support with variable analyses. CONTACT: ysj@andong-c.ac.kr

ETHICS COMMITTEE: Ethics approval was obtained by the hospital ethics review board.