Effects of Speed-Based Interventions to Reduce Bradykinesia in Individuals with Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review Protocol.

Background/objectives: Bradykinesia is considered one of the most disabling motor symptoms in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD). Speed-based interventions are promising for reducing bradykinesia in this population. This systematic review aims to describe speed-based interventions that have been employed for reducing bradykinesia in individuals with PD and verify their effects.

Prevalence of sensory impairments and its contribution to functional disability in individuals with acute stroke: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Although the literature suggests high prevalences of sensory impairments after stroke, the independent contribution of sensory modalities to functionality needs further investigation.

Objective: To identify the prevalence and characterize the sensory impairment in adults with stroke and to verify the contribution of proprioceptive and exteroceptive impairments to their functional disability.

Methods: Exploratory cross-sectional study conducted in a hospital stroke unit.

Mechanically assisted walking with body weight support results in more independent walking and better walking ability compared with usual walking training in non-ambulatory adults early after stroke: a systematic review.

Questions: In subacute, non-ambulatory individuals after stroke, does mechanically assisted walking with body weight support result in more independent walking or better walking ability than usual walking training in the short term? Are any benefits maintained in the longer term? Is it detrimental to walking in terms of walking speed?

Design: A systematic review with meta-analysis of randomised studies with a Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) score > 4.

Participants: Non-ambulatory adults ≤ 12 weeks after stroke.

Intervention: Any type of mechanically assisted walking with body weight support.

Contextual and clinical factors as explainers of stroke severity, residual motor impairments, and functional independence during hospitalization.

Objective: To investigate if contextual and clinical factors would explain stroke severity, residual motor impairments, and functional independence in people with stroke during hospitalization.

Materials And Methods: This cross-sectional study retrieved data from medical records between January 2014 to December 2021. Explanatory independent variables were contextual (sex, age, marital status, occupation, and local of residence) and clinical (stroke type, length of hospital stay, and cognitive function) factors.

Presence of Self-Reported Sleep Alterations After Stroke and Their Relationship With Disability: A Longitudinal Study.

Background: Sleep disorders have a prevalence of 30% to 70% in post-stroke individuals. The presence of sleep disorders and poor sleep quality after stroke can affect important functions and lead to worse outcomes. However, most studies are restricted to the acute post-stroke stage only.

Predictors of health-related quality of life one year after stroke: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

The objective was to investigate, through a systematic review, which independent variables predict health-related quality of life (HRQoL) one year after stroke. Searches were conducted in LILACS, MEDLINE, Scielo, Web of Science, and PEDro. The inclusion criteria were observational longitudinal studies, which included at least one independent variable measured at baseline, as a potential predictor of HRQoL measured 12 months after stroke.

Procedures and measurement properties of the 6-min step test: A systematic review with clinical recommendations.

Objective: To provide information regarding the procedures, safety, tolerability, and measurement properties of the 6-min step test.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and SPORTDiscus (from inception until January 2024).

Review Methods: Studies that examined adults with acute or chronic diseases, and outcomes related to procedures, safety, tolerability, or measurement properties of the 6-min step test were included.

Home-based self-management for sedentary individuals with mild walking disability after stroke: protocol for a randomised pilot study.

Background: A Phase I study showed that it is feasible to implement a home-based self-management program aimed at increasing physical activity in individuals after stroke with mild walking disability in Brazil. The next step is to test this program against a control group in order to provide a power analysis for a fully-powered Phase III clinical trial.

Methods: A Phase II pilot randomised clinical trial with concealed allocation, blinded measurement, and intention-to-treat analyses will be carried out.

Balance deficit is the domain of the Fugl-Meyer scale that best explain limitations in functional independence during hospitalization after a stroke.

Purpose: To investigate which of the residual sensorimotor impairments, assessed by the Fugl-Meyer scale, would best explain functional independence during hospitalization after a stroke.

Methods: This cross-sectional study retrieved data from medical records between January 2014 to December 2021. Explanatory independent variables were the following domains of the Fugl-Meyer scale: joint pain, joint range of motion, balance, sensory function, and motor function of the upper and lower limbs.

Effects of high-intensity respiratory muscle training on respiratory muscle strength in individuals with Parkinson's disease: Protocol of a randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of high-intensity respiratory muscle training (combined inspiratory and expiratory muscle training) in improving inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength, inspiratory muscle endurance, peak cough flow, dyspnea, fatigue, exercise capacity, and quality of life in this population.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial, concealed allocation, blinded assessments, and intention-to-treat analysis will be carried out. Altogether, 34 individuals with PD (age ≥ 50 years old, with maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP) <80cmH2O or maximum expiratory pressure (MEP) <90cmH2O) will be recruited.

Relative contributions of positive, negative, and adaptive features to limitations in upper-limb function three months after stroke.

Purpose: To investigate the contributions of motor impairments to limitations in upper-limb function three months after stroke.

Design: Cross-sectional, exploratory study.

Methods: Dependent variable was upper-limb function, measured by the Motor Assessment Scale (MAS), which scores range from 0 to 18.

Deficits in dynamic balance were the motor impairments that best explained limitations in community ambulation after stroke.

Background: Improving walking capacity, in order to achieve community ambulation, is an important goal for both patients and rehabilitation professionals. However, only about 7 to 27% of the stroke survivors will be able to walk in the community.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine which measures of motor impairments would impair community ambulation in 90 individuals with chronic stroke.

Individuals with stroke three months after hospital discharge reported worse quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose: To compare quality of life (QOL) of individuals with stroke three months after hospital discharge, using generic and specific QOL measures, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Individuals, who were admitted to a public hospital, were recruited and evaluated before (G1) and during (G2) the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups were matched for age, sex, socio-economic status, and levels of stroke severity (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale) and functional dependence (Modified Barthel Index).

Measurement properties of outcome measures used in neurological telerehabilitation: A systematic review using COSMIN checklist.

Objective: To summarize the measurement properties (reliability, validity, and responsiveness) and the clinical utility of measurement tools used in telerehabilitation in individuals with neurological conditions.

Design: Systematic review.

Subjects: Individuals with neurological conditions

Intervention: Not applicable.

Walking speed, hip muscles strength, aerobic capacity, and self-perceived locomotion ability most explain walking confidence after stroke: a cross-sectional experimental study.

Identifying the determinants of walking confidence can be crucial in therapeutic terms. On these bases, interventions to improve these factors could improve, in turn, walking confidence. Objective is to explore the relationship between motor impairments and activity limitation measures and walking confidence in people with chronic stroke.

Walking confidence and perceived locomotion ability explain participation after stroke: A cross-sectional experimental study.

Objective: To explore the relationship between walking measurements (i.e., walking speed, walking performance and walking confidence), and participation in ambulatory people with chronic stroke.

Self-management to promote physical activity after discharge from in-patient stroke rehabilitation: a feasibility study.

Objectives: To investigate the feasibility of a self-management program aimed at increasing physical activity in community-dwelling ambulators after stroke in a middle-income country with high income inequality.

Methods: A Phase 1, pre-post intervention study was conducted with 20 sub-acute stroke participants. The self-management program was delivered in six home-based sessions over 3 months.

Home-Based Interventions may Increase Recruitment, Adherence, and Measurement of outcomes in Clinical Trials of Stroke Rehabilitation.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the completion rates of a home-based randomized trial, which examined home-based high-intensity respiratory muscle training after stroke compared with sham intervention.

Materials And Methods: Completion was examined in terms of recruitment (enrolment and retention), intervention (adherence and delivery of home-visits) and measurement (collection of outcomes).

Results: Enrolment was 32% and retention was 97% at post-intervention and 84% at follow-up.

Cross-cultural adaptation and measurement properties of the Brazilian Portuguese version of the spinal cord injury - Falls Concern Scale.

Study Design: Psychometric study.

Objectives: To cross-culturally adapt the spinal cord injury-falls concern scale (SCI-FCS) to the Brazilian Portuguese language and to evaluate its measurement properties.

Setting: SARAH Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Fall Efficacy Scale-International cut-off score discriminates fallers and non-fallers individuals who have had stroke.

Background: Falls, which are common events after stroke, may lead to activity limitations and increased dependence. It is important to identify which commonly employed clinical measures could differentiate individuals, who are fallers from the non-fallers.

Aim: To investigate specific cut-off values of clinical measures that could discriminate fallers and non-fallers individuals with chronic stroke.

Depressive symptoms and functional status are associated with sleep quality after stroke.

: To investigate the sleep state and determine whether variables, such as age, functional status, walking capacity, fatigue, depressive symptoms, and quality of life were associated with sleep quality of individuals with chronic stroke.: For this exploratory study, the dependent variable was sleep quality, which was measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Step-wise multiple linear regression analysis was employed to identify which of the independent variables, that is, age, functional status (Modified Rankin Scale-mRS), walking capacity (6-minute Walk Test), fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale), depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale-GDS), and quality of life (EuroQol) were associated with sleep quality.