Open AccessEarly functional improvement after stroke correlates with cardiovascular fitness
Author(s) -
Chen ChunKai,
Huang MaoHsiung,
Liang WenLung,
Lin RueyTay,
Juo SuhHang H.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the kaohsiung journal of medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.439
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 2410-8650
pISSN - 1607-551X
DOI - 10.1016/j.kjms.2018.05.007
Subject(s) - medicine , rehabilitation , cardiovascular fitness , stroke (engine) , functional independence measure , physical therapy , functional training , physical medicine and rehabilitation , physical fitness , mechanical engineering , engineering
Cardiovascular fitness exerts directly beneficial effects on functional and cognitive outcomes in patients of chronic stroke. However, the effect of early rehabilitation on cardiovascular function has not yet been thoroughly examined. We tested whether complementary rehabilitation program could influence cardiovascular fitness in an early stage of stroke patients. The associations for post‐acute stroke functional recovery with cardiovascular fitness were explored. Thirty‐seven patients with mean poststroke interval of 8.6 ± 3.8 days underwent inpatient rehabilitation of 22.8 ± 3.8 days. Functional outcomes of 15.3 points (17.2%) in functional independence measure improved after rehabilitation program. The therapeutic cardiovascular fitness was determined in ramp exercise test on a cycling ergometer. Peak oxygen uptake ( V ˙ O 2peak ) significantly increased by 24.8% after early stroke rehabilitation. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to assess for associations of functional improvement with respect to change inV ˙ O 2peak and extremities motor impairment.V ˙ O 2peak gain accounted for more functional recovery than extremities motor improvement (R 2 = 0.42). In conclusion, these results suggest that cardiovascular fitness appears to increase after complementary program in early stroke rehabilitation, and better cardiovascular fitness may be associated with greater functional improvement.