Therapeutic support and functional disability after ischemic stroke: a cohort study.
Brenda Silva Cunha, Mariana de Almeida Moraes, Liane de Assis Campos Medeiros and 3 others
PMID 42659500WHAT IT FOUND
Disability did not change significantly from 90 days to two to three years after ischemic stroke.
Physiotherapy follow-up was linked to more moderate or severe disability, likely because more impaired patients were referred.
Key findings
01Functional disability did not change significantly between 90 days and two to three years after ischemic stroke.
02In the unadjusted analysis, participants who had physiotherapy appointments were 3.34 times more likely to have moderate or severe functional disability than those who did not.
03Between two and three years, 54.2% had not consulted a physiotherapist and 85% had not consulted a nurse.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Single public hospital in Bahia, so results may not apply elsewhere. Analyses were bivariate and did not adjust for confounding, so associations may reflect severity or referral. Of 242 baseline participants, 54 were lost and 33 died, leaving 155; this may introduce selection bias. Disability was measured by telephone, sometimes by caregivers, with possible recall and measurement bias. Post-hoc power was low for small differences (12%, 24%, 75%).
Declared interests
Funded by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development. The supplied text does not report competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that physiotherapy caused worse disability. The study did not assign treatments, did not adjust for confounders, and the paper notes that more severely affected patients were likely referred for physiotherapy.