Investigating dose-response patterns in virtual reality rehabilitation: a pilot study of patient satisfaction in subacute stroke.
Iva Fiedorova, Sarka Banikova, Alice Najsrova and 4 others
PMID 41180414WHAT IT FOUND
No significant relationship was found between virtual reality dosage and patient satisfaction in 19 subacute stroke patients.
The study was underpowered and heavily confounded by hospital length of stay, meaning VR exposure reflected stroke severity rather than a controlled treatment parameter.
Key findings
01Correlation analyses revealed no significant relationships between VR dosage parameters (total sessions, average duration, cumulative time) and overall patient satisfaction scores.
02The number of VR sessions was strongly correlated with hospital length of stay, indicating that dosage was determined by clinical severity and medical stability rather than being a controlled variable.
03The study had severely inadequate statistical power (approximately 20% to detect small correlations) due to the small sample size, so the absence of significant findings does not rule out a true dose-response relationship.
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 sample size (n=19) was too small to detect meaningful dose-response relationships, with less than 25% statistical power. VR dosage was not randomized; it was determined by clinical factors like medical stability and hospital length of stay, creating strong confounding with stroke severity. The distribution of VR sessions was highly uneven, with 58% of patients receiving only 1-2 sessions, preventing robust analysis of thresholds. The study was exploratory and hypothesis-generating; it cannot support causal conclusions about the effect of VR dosage on satisfaction.
Declared interests
The research was supported by the Student Grant Competition and the Specific University Research Grant from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. The authors declare financial support was received for the research/publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the lack of significant correlation as proof that VR dosage does not affect satisfaction. The study was severely underpowered and confounded by hospital length of stay, so the null result is likely due to methodological limitations rather than a true absence of effect.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →