Objective
To examine the relationship of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Functional Independence Measure (FIM) in stroke patients. Method: Ninety-two subjects with the first attack of stroke were enrolled to assess BBS, FIM at admission and discharge following rehabilitation programs. We divided subjects into three groups by severity of BBS at the first evaluation. Group I was low BBS (score≤12), Group II was medium BBS (13≤score≤42), and group III was high BBS (score≥43). The admission BBS and the admission FIM, and the admission BBS and the discharge FIM were compared, and also the relationship between them were assessed at the admission and/or discharge. Results: Admission and discharge BBS of all three groupswere significantly different, respectively (p＜0.01). Admission and discharge FIM of all three groups were also significantly different (p＜0.01). There was highly correlated with admission BBS and admission FIM (r=0.529, p＜0.01), and moderately correlated between admission BBS and discharge FIM (r=0.43, p＜0.05). Also there was high relationship between BBS gain and FIM gain (r=0.516, p＜0.01). Conclusion: These results indicated that balance function could affect functional ability during rehabilitation programs and BBS was a useful tool to predict discharge functional status in hemiplegic subjects with stroke. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2005; 29: 167-170)