Prospective studies establish cognitive status as an important determinant of post-stroke rehabilitation success. The Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE), a screening method that assesses cognition in a brief but quantitative fashion, uses independant tests to evaluate the cognitive function within ten independant cognitive ability area. For the study of prognostic value of initial NCSE for functional improvement of stroke patients, we analyzed the correlation between the initial NCSE and the changes of Barthel Index(BI) score during 1 month of rehabilitation.

The sum of normal subitems in NCSE was significantly correlated with changes in BI score in 34 stroke patients(p<0.01). Among the subitems of NCSE, construction, memory, and similarity were the the best predictors of functional improvement (p<0.01).

Therefore, the NCSE provides both a rapid and sensitive measure of cognitive function and it appears to predict the change of functional status as a result from inpatient stroke rehabilitation.