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(Stroke. 2004;35:1022.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cochrane Corner

Therapy-Based Rehabilitation for Stroke Patients Living at Home

From the Academic Section of Geriatric Medicine, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow University, UK.

Correspondence to Lynn Legg, MPH, Dip COT SROT, Glasgow University, Academic Section of Geriatric Medicine, 3rd Floor Centre Block, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G4 OSF, UK. E-mail Lynn@Legg80.freeserve.co.uk

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Background

Stroke unit care is now accepted as an effective service model for hospital care, but the effectiveness of outpatient services are less certain. This review focuses on therapy-based rehabilitation services (defined as input from occupational therapy, physiotherapy, or a multidisciplinary team) targeted at stroke patients living at home.

Objectives

To assess the effects of therapy-based rehabilitation services targeted toward stroke patient resident in the community within 1 year of stroke onset or discharge from hospital following stroke.

Methods

We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Specialised Trials Register (last searched by the Review Group Coordinator in November 2001), the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2001), MEDLINE (1966–November 2001), EMBASE (1980–November 2001), CINAHL (1983–November 2001), PsycINFO (1967–November 2001), AMED (1985–November 2001), Wilson Social Sciences Abstracts (1984–November 2001), and Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index (1981-Nov 2001). Other strategies to ensure identification of all potentially relevant trials included scanning reference lists of relevant articles and original papers, hand-searching relevant journals, and personal communication.

We considered all unconfounded, truly randomized controlled trials of stroke patients resident in the community receiving a therapy service intervention, which was compared with conventional care (ie, normal practice or no routine intervention). Two reviewers independently selected trials, extracted data, and assessed trial quality.

Results

A total of 27 trials were identified by November 2001 of which 10 did not meet the inclusion criteria. Three trials are not yet completed, and the remaining 14 contained outcome information on a total of 1617 patients. Losses to follow-up were small . . . [Full Text of this Article]