A comparison of balance and motor skills, quality of life, functional independence, anxiety and depression in female and male right and left hemplegic patients with the prediction of serebral lateralization

Aim: Stroke causes significant functional sequelae, and negatively affects quality of life. We aimed to investigate compare the balance, functional independence in daily living activities, depression and anxiety symptoms and quality of life levels of left and right hemiplegic individuals with the prediction of lateralization. Materials and Methods: Our study was carried out with 20 female and 42 male left and right hemiplegic individuals diagnosed with hemiplegia. Balance performance of patients was evaluated with Berg Balance Scale and independence in activities of daily living was evaluated with Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The patients' quality of life was evaluated with the EQ-5D-3L Questionnaire and their hand dominance were evaluated with the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. All data were analyzed with the IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 software. Results: Left hemisphere lesions of cases depression and anxiety levels with were found to be significantly higher, and functional independence and quality of life scores were lower than right hemisphere lesions cases. Among right-handers, left hemiplegics have higher Barthel score than right hemiplegics, and right hemiplegics have higher depression levels. Among left-handers, left hemiplegics have a higher Bartel score than right hemiplegics. Conclusion: It was found that right-handed patients whose dominant side was paralyzed were affected more in parameters than left-handed patients whose dominant side was paralyzed.