Spatial Neglect in Stroke: Identification, Disease Process and Association with Outcome During Inpatient Rehabilitation

We established spatial neglect prevalence, disease profile and amount of therapy that inpatient stroke survivors received, and outcomes at discharge using Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) data. We used data from 88,664 National Health Service (NHS) admissions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (July 2013–July 2015), for stroke survivors still in hospital after 3 days with a completed baseline neglect National Institute for Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score. Thirty percent had neglect (NIHSS item 11 ≥ 1) and they were slightly older (78 years) than those without neglect (75 years). Neglect was observed more commonly in women (33 vs. 27%) and in individuals with a premorbid dependency (37 vs. 28%). Survivors of mild stroke were far less likely to present with neglect than those with severe stroke (4% vs. 84%). Those with neglect had a greatly increased length of stay (27 vs. 10 days). They received a comparable amount of average daily occupational and physiotherapy during their longer inpatient stay but on discharge a greater percentage of individuals with neglect were dependent on the modified Rankin scale (76 vs. 57%). Spatial neglect is common and associated with worse clinical outcomes. These results add to our understanding of neglect to inform clinical guidelines, service provision and priorities for future research.