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A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

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the oldest person <strong>in</strong> the study had dendritic measures well above average. This<br />

supports some smaller studies that suggest that the number <strong>of</strong> dendrites<br />

actually <strong>in</strong>creases with age (Buell and Coleman, 1981). Their study found<br />

significantly larger dendritic trees <strong>in</strong> adults, aged 68-92 than <strong>in</strong> younger adults<br />

(aged 44-55). Johansson (2000) asserts that the dendritic loss <strong>of</strong> age<strong>in</strong>g is<br />

compensated to some extent by dendritic growth where a post-mortem<br />

exam<strong>in</strong>ation demonstrated that neurological healthy 80 year olds had longer<br />

dendritic trees than those <strong>of</strong> 51 year olds.<br />

Bagg, Pombo and Hopman (2002) advise that age has been identified as a<br />

prognostic factor <strong>in</strong> recovery follow<strong>in</strong>g stroke <strong>in</strong> a number <strong>of</strong> studies report<strong>in</strong>g<br />

associations between age and poor outcome. The data however is equivocal,<br />

with some studies show<strong>in</strong>g that younger patients had a more favourable<br />

outcome than older ones (Kalra, 1994; Holland, Greenhouse, Fromm and<br />

Sw<strong>in</strong>dell, 1989; Shewan and Kertesz, 1984; Marshall and Phillips, 1983;<br />

Marshall, Tompk<strong>in</strong>s and Phillips, 1982) whereas other studies suggested that<br />

age is not a prognostic factor (Bagg et al., 2002; Pedersen, Jørgensen,<br />

Nakayama, Raaschou and Olsen, 1995). Robertson and Murre (1999) state that<br />

although neuronal plasticity is evidenced <strong>in</strong> the adult population the potential for<br />

recovery is greater for younger adults. Bagg et al. (2002) aimed to discrim<strong>in</strong>ate<br />

between the <strong>in</strong>fluences <strong>of</strong> age itself and various factors that are associated with<br />

age<strong>in</strong>g on functional outcome. They found that age alone showed a small but<br />

significant effect on functional outcome. However they stress the small size <strong>of</strong><br />

the effect stat<strong>in</strong>g that the association between poor outcome and age could be<br />

expla<strong>in</strong>ed by additional disabilities or co-morbidities that the people presented<br />

with. They advise that age itself could be associated with lower functional<br />

outcome because <strong>of</strong> a limited physical tolerance to <strong>in</strong>tense rehabilitation, slower<br />

functional recovery or both.<br />

33

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