Oxygen Cost During Walking in Individuals With Stroke: Hemiparesis Versus Cerebellar Ataxia.
Maxence Compagnat, Jean-Christophe Daviet, Charles Batcho and 4 others
PMID 32089099WHAT IT FOUND
Stroke survivors with cerebellar ataxia cost more oxygen per meter walking than hemiparetic survivors when walking faster than 0.4 m/s.
Their oxygen cost increased as ataxia severity increased. Fatigue may limit community walking.
Key findings
01At walking speeds greater than 0.4 m/s, cerebellar stroke participants had a higher oxygen cost of walking than hemispheric stroke participants.
02In cerebellar stroke, oxygen cost was highly correlated with ataxia severity (r = 0.88; P < .001).
03In hemispheric stroke, oxygen cost was correlated with lower-limb motor function (r = -0.61; P = .003), spasticity (r = 0.59; P = .007), and ataxia scores (r = 0.81; P < .001).
STILL TO COME
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What it does not show
The study had only 33 participants, including 14 with cerebellar stroke, and no sample size calculation was possible. The oxygen cost and speed equations were not validated in a new population, and intra- and interreliability were not assessed. The minimal clinically important difference for oxygen cost is unknown, so the size of the group difference may not be clinically meaningful. Time since stroke was 639 days in the hemispheric group and 61 days in the cerebellar group, although this difference was not significant. The significant difference appeared only above 0.4 m/s, and oxygen cost was highly variable at slower speeds. Participants were overweight, with body mass index 25.6 in the hemispheric group and 25.5 in the cerebellar group, which can increase oxygen cost. Cerebellar stroke is uncommon, accounting for 6% of strokes, so recruiting a larger heterogeneous sample may be difficult.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that cerebellar stroke causes higher walking oxygen cost at all speeds or that cardiorespiratory training has been proven to reduce it. The difference was significant only above 0.4 m/s, the sample was small, and no intervention was tested.