Ipsilateral upper and lower extremity response time among stroke patients

This case control study assesses ipsilateral response time (RT) of both upper extremities (UEs) and lower extremities (LEs) of stroke patients to visual and auditory stimuli. The RT of 17 right and 12 left hemiparetic patients was compared with that of the corresponding sides of 33 controls. Analysis of covariance by group and side with sex and age as covariates, as well as separate analysis of variance were administered for each test, so as to measure differences for group by age, side and sex. The findings showed impaired ipsilateral RT of the right UE and LE and left LE in the stroke patients. Differences were noted between patients and controls on both visual and auditory tests. Males performed better than females, mainly regarding the left UE and the LEs. 'Old' patients were slower to perform with the UEs and LEs than 'young' subjects. The findings warrant further exploration of limb performance of stroke patients, especially those of the LEs.