News - Hypertension Week of Feb. 1, 2004/ Vol. 3 No. 05

Study: Providing At-Home Rehabilitation to Stroke Victims Can Preserve and Even Improve Function

Providing rehabilitation therapy to stroke sufferers while they live in their homes can preserve and even improve their ability to perform everyday living activities such as dressing or walking, according to a study reported in the January 31 issue of the Lancet.

Study author Lynn Legg, of the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and her colleagues reviewed 14 randomized trials involving 1,600 stroke patients who rececived outpatient services while living at home within one year after their stroke.

The services that the patients received in these studies included physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

The researchers found that those who received rehabilitation at home had 28 percent less chance of having their ability to perform daily living activities deteriorate and a 14 percent chance of actually improving those abilities.

"Our results suggest that a therapy-based rehabilitation service could be beneficial," concluded Legg. "Although the health gain we recorded is fairly modest, we know of no other intervention at present that can provide this increase at this stage of recovery."

Other sources: The Lancet