Change characteristics of health-related quality of life and its association with post-stroke fatigue at four-year follow-up.
Synne G Pedersen, Audny Anke, Mari T Løkholm and 5 others
PMID 38175175WHAT IT FOUND
Most stroke survivors had stable high function at four-year follow-up, but fatigue clustered in trajectories with poorer or worsening quality of life.
Some improved, and some deteriorated, between the first and fourth year.
Key findings
01About 74% of participants had a stable and high level of physical functioning.
02The best-functioning trajectory in each quality-of-life component had the lowest fatigue score compared with all other trajectories.
03A cognitive-social-mental recovery trajectory included about 13% of participants and showed improvement.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The analysis used 144 stroke survivors with complete data, and several trajectory classes were very small. The participants were mainly mild or moderate stroke, so results may not apply to more severe stroke. Some invited 4-year participants did not respond or consent, and they were older, so non-response bias may affect the results. Fatigue was measured only at 4 years, while function was measured at 1 and 4 years, so timing of changes is limited. This is an observational study. It shows associations between function trajectories and fatigue, not that one caused the other. Five participants could not complete questionnaires because of declining health, which may leave out people who were too unwell to respond.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by the Dam Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving quality of life reduces fatigue. This observational study linked poorer or worsening quality-of-life trajectories with higher fatigue, but it did not test whether improving function causes fatigue to improve.