Disability and lifestyle of subacute myelo-optico-neuropathy and stroke patients and elderly persons living at home: A comparison of the Barthel Index score and the Frenchay Activities Index score.

To evaluate subacute myelo-optico-neuropathy (SMON) and stroke patients and elderly persons by using the Barthel Index (BI) and Frenchay Activities Index (FAI) and to reveal the disability and lifestyle of SMON patients, cross sectional comparison study was performed. Forty SMON patients, 92 age-matched stroke patients with the same level of BI score and 92 age-matched elderly persons living at home were subjected in this study. The SMON patients responded to a self-administered BI and FAI at their yearly health counseling, and the score of the BI and FAI of stroke outpatients and elderly persons were sampled from the databases. The differences in age distribution and sex ratio between the three groups were analyzed by the chi2 test and one-way analysis of variance, respectively, and the differences in BI and FAI between the three groups were analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by the Mann-Whitney test. The BI total score of the SMON patients was the same as that of the stroke patients and lower than that of the elderly persons. The 4 items of self-care index and 2 items of mobility index in the SMON patients were rated significantly higher and lower than the stroke patients respectively, and all items except eating and toileting in the SMON patients were rated lower than elderly persons (Mann-Whitney test, P < 0.05). The FAI scores in the SMON patients were lower than the elderly persons and higher than the stroke patients. These results suggest that the scores of the BI and FAI differentiated the features of disability and lifestyle of the SMON patients from those of stroke patients and elderly persons.