Multilevel Analysis of Functional Recovery in Initial Stroke Patients**

Stroke is a disease in which oxygen and nutrition are blocked by blocking cerebral blood flow, causing damage to some of the brain tissue. The mortality rate from stroke is decreasing, but the number of patients complaining of discomfort due to aftereffects, especially dysfunction, is increasing. However, only studies on stroke patients continue, and studies on initial stroke patients that do not include recurrence patients are still insufficient. Accordingly, this study tried to identify factors affecting initial stroke function and ultimately help health care policies by using a tool for evaluating daily life activities of stroke patients commonly used in the rehabilitation field called the Korean version of the K-MBI. The data used in this study is longitudinal data consisting of repeated measurements for each object, and a multi-level analysis was conducted because an analysis method that considers correlation was needed. All variables were significant in the generalized estimation equation model (GEE), but the majority model showed significant functional score recovery depending on the presence of a spouse (married than unmarried), hospitalization period (shorter), and age (less); p-value<0.05. In addition, it was confirmed that there was a difference in function scores according to the severity of the initial stroke. Therefore, this study is meaningful in that it presents the need for a different medical approach depending on the severity of the initial stroke to improve the function of patients with initial stroke.