Utilization of physiotherapy services and associated factors among stroke survivors attending hospitals in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia.
Melese Gobezie, Addisu Yihenew, Kassahun Cherkoss and 12 others
Only 46.75% of stroke survivors in four Ethiopian hospitals used physiotherapy.
Those in the acute phase, with balance problems, or with slow walking had higher odds of attending; no other factor was significant in the final model.
Key findings
1Fewer than half of stroke survivors (46.75%) used physiotherapy services, meaning more than half did not access rehabilitation despite having functional limitations.
2In the adjusted model, acute-phase stroke survivors had higher odds of using physiotherapy (AOR 1.63), as did those with balance impairment (AOR 1.12) and abnormal speed of mobility (AOR 1.01).
3More than half of participants were dependent in daily activities (58.25%), had balance impairment (51.5%), or used mobility aids (59.75%), indicating a high level of functional dependency in the study population.
Still to come
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Conducted in one town (Gondar), so findings may not apply to rural areas or other countries. Cross-sectional design: you cannot say these factors caused the utilization pattern, only that they co-occurred. Medical conditions and comorbidities were partly self-reported, which can introduce recall bias. 24 of the 424 targeted participants did not respond or gave incomplete data, and it is unclear whether non-responders differed from those included. Utilization was defined as two or more sessions, so a patient who attended one session and then stopped is counted as a non-user.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The study received no specific grant from any public, commercial, or not-for-profit funding agency.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the large bivariate odds ratios (depression OR 28.69, balance OR 28.87, speed OR 23.80) as the true strength of these factors — in the adjusted model, depression was not significant (p = 0.097) and the balance and speed odds ratios dropped to 1.12 and 1.01. The bivariate numbers reflect confounding by other variables, not independent effects, and the adjusted model is the one to trust.
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 →