Task-specific motor-cognitive correlates of dressing independence after stroke: a multicenter cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: This exploratory multicenter cross-sectional study examined motor, sensory, and cognitive correlates of upper- and lower-body dressing independence after stroke. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants were 165 patients with stroke from eight hospitals in Japan. Dressing independence was assessed using the Functional Independence Measure. Candidate predictors included demographic and clinical covariates, motor and trunk-related measures, sensory-perceptual measures, and cognitive tests. Elastic net regression with 5-fold cross-validation was performed separately for upper- and lower-body dressing. The L1 ratio was fixed at 0.5, and alpha was selected by cross-validation. Forced-entry multiple regression using the same predictor set was conducted as a supplementary analysis. RESULTS: Elastic net models retained motor impairment, abdominal function, and knee extensor strength for both dressing outcomes, with larger coefficients for lower-body dressing. Sensory, visuospatial, cognitive, and clinical variables had smaller coefficients. Supplementary regression associated motor impairment with both outcomes and knee extensor strength and abdominal function with lower-body dressing. CONCLUSIONS: Motor impairment, abdominal function, and knee extensor strength were important model variables. Findings support component-level assessment of dressing performance but remain hypothesis-generating because of the cross-sectional design.