The aim of the study was to compare stroke patients' own scorings of the Frenchay Activities Index with scorings based on interviews with their nearest relatives. Fifty-two patients and relatives were interviewed separately 1 year after the stroke. The mean sumscore based upon information from the patients was 29.0, and that based upon the relatives' replies was 27.7 (mean difference 1.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.1 to 2.8). The Kendall tau B correlation between the two sumscores was 0.72 (95% CI 0.63 to 0.81). In half of the patients the two sumscores differed by four points or more, and in every fourth the two sumscores differed by six points or more. The weighted kappa for the single items varied between 0.36 and 0.89. No characteristics of patients or relatives were identified that were related to disagreement between the two scores.