Introduction: Cerebral stroke is the third leading cause of mortality in industrially developed countries. Approximately half of all patients who survive stroke become permanently work disabled and unable to manage basic self-care activities. Most of the patients have permanent neurological deficit. Two thirds of the patients require rehabilitation, whereas half of them depend on someone else for their basic care-needs. Quality and efficiency of medical rehabilitation have great socioeconomic and medical importance for patients themselves, their families and the whole community. Hypotheses: Less successful rehabilitation outcomes in patients with ischemic cerebral stroke. More effective rehabilitation in patients with hemiparesis, in comparison to those with hemiplegia. More effective rehabilitation in patients under 65 years of age due to comorbidity. Less successful rehabilitation outcomes in women. Methods: This retrospective study involved 400 subjects. Data were obtained from patients' histories and included in a convenient questionnaire. Functional ability and daily self-care activities were assessed by measuring Barthel index at the beginning of the early rehabilitation period and on discharge. Results: Patients involved in this study were successfully rehabilitated during the early rehabilitation period with the need to continue rehabilitation treatment. Demographic data and data on risk factors obtained from patients' histories did not influence the course of rehabilitation. The most remarkable improvements were noted in simple self-care activities, transfer from chair to bed, personal hygiene, mobility, feeding, dressing, toileting. The majority of patients showed slow recovery in performing more complex self-care activities, such as using stairs or bathing. Functions of bladder and bowel control were the slowest to recover. Conclusion: Following primary rehabilitation the subjects' health status improved significantly. Application of Barthel index indicated many disadvantages in assessing the current status. This mode of assessing and planning rehabilitation procedures may be useful in the early rehabilitation program due to specific circumstances.