Background: Stroke is often a catastrophic event affecting all aspects of an individual’s life. Objective: To assess HRQOL in patients with cerebral stroke after 1 and 3 months to estimate the impact of individual characteristics; stroke type and severity; on HRQOL and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the SIS for assessing HRQOL. Methods: Fifty patients who had a first-ever stroke were eligible for inclusion. The patients were subjected to thorough history taking and neurological examination using NIHSS; BI; MMSE and BDI. HRQOL was assessed using the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS) Version 2.0 with 8 domains: strength, hand function, mobility, physical, ADL/IADL memory, communication, emotion, and participation.  Results: Cerebral ischemic stroke was detected in 36 (72%) patients, and cerebral hemorrhage in 14 (36%) patients. The internal reliability of SIS was all exceeding the 0.70 standard except for participation (0.68). Stroke patients were changing significantly in all dimensions of SIS after 3 months except for memory, emotion and communication.  The mean total score of the SIS was lower (indicating poorer quality of life) in groups with severe disability measured by BI, severe impairment measured by NIHSS, and moderate-severe depression. The physical dimension correlated significantly with age, co-morbidity and NIHSS; memory domain with co-morbidities and NIHSS; and social participation with age, co-morbidities and social score. Conclusion: The SIS is a single stroke outcome measure that aims to assess the various domains important in determining HRQOL in stroke patients that may facilitate a better understanding of individual needs and thereby, planning for programming during recovery. (Egypt J Neurol Psychiat Neurosurg.  2010; 47(2): 267-274)