OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to identify generical and specific instruments used for valueing quality of life (QOL) and their outcomes in stroke survivors. METHODS: Review of literature of last 10 years, with people above 18 years old, in MedLine and Lilacs database. The instruments used on the studies were validated for the their countries. 96 articles have been considered relevant and 31 were in accordance with inclusion criteria. Five kind of generic/profile, nine generic/utility and two specific instruments were found. The more frequent was SF-36, on the 45,2% of the studies. It has been observed that poverty in quality of life was related to defective the physical function, to the presence of depression or its symptoms, to the feminine gender and to being older. In general, survivors of cerebrovascular accident had worse QOL than the ones who did not suffer it. CONCLUSION: It has been found 16 instruments for QOL' assessment. The poverty of QOL was frequent on stroke survivors and was related to physical function, depression, sex and age.
Quality of life; cerebrovascular accident; stroke; instruments
