An Overview of Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objective: To summarize randomized controlled trials published in the acquired brain injury rehabilitation literature.

Setting: N/A.

Participants: N/A.

Design: Systematic literature review.

Main Measures: A total of 143 published randomized controlled trials in acquired brain injury rehabilitation literature from January 1980 to October 2012. Measures were area of research, number of studies, sample size, methodological quality, and country of origin.

Results: There were no significant differences in median sample sizes (P = .212; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.199-0.215) or PEDro scores (P = .492; 95% CI, .491-.510) between 4 research areas in acquired brain injury: sensory-motor, cognitive-communication, medical complications, and psychosocial. Between 1980 and 2012, there was no significant difference in median sample sizes (P = .202; 95% CI, 0.198-0.214). Median PEDro scores did not significantly improve between 1983-1987 (median = 4, interquartile range = 4.5) and 2008-2012 (median = 6, interquartile range = 2; P = .100; 95% CI, 0.093-0.105).

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the need for more randomized controlled trials, increased sample sizes, and improved methodological quality to better guide clinical practice for acquired brain injury rehabilitation.