Objective To explore the necessity of graded rehabilitation interventions for stroke by means of a retrospective analysis of the destination and functional outcome of stroke patients.Methods One hundred and twenty-one stroke patients discharged from the authors' department in a tertiary hospital after hospitalized rehabilitation treatment and continued with no guided rehabilitation training at home for a period of more than 15 days before readmission to the department were recruited as the family group,another 47 patients discharged from the same department and continued with hospitalized rehabilitation treatment in other institutions for a period of more than 15 days before re-admission to the department were recruited as the rehabilitation group.The demographic data,the patients' Barthel index scores Holden gait classifications at discharge from the authors' department and at re-admission of both groups were analyzed and compared.Results The complications in rehabilitation group were much less than in the family group.The difference of Barthel index scores between previous discharge and re-admission in family group was negatively correlated with the age of stroke onset,number of complications,and was positively correlated with the Barthel index score and Holden classification at the previous discharge.It was also found that the patients in family group would remain stable with their ADL performance and gait if their BI score was equal or above 45 and Holden classification equal or above grade 2 at the previous discharge.Conclusion Stroke patients in tertiary hospitalized rehabilitation program should be discharged either to secondary institution or family in accordance to their functional status.