Ischemic Stroke (IS) patients

The study attempted to investigate 99,753 Ischemic Stroke (IS) patients and an additional 8824 Intra-cerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) cases in order to improve the test's veracity (ICH). From the beginning of 2008 to the end of 2012, these people were hospitalized for five years (Reuter et al., 2016).

The key dependent variables in this study are the level of hospital treatment and clinical outcome.

Furthermore, Very Early Rehabilitation (VER) is the study's independent variable.

The article ideally wants to evaluate data from participants who were hospitalized for five years, beginning in 2008 and finishing in 2012. In essence, the data will involve information about the access to physical therapy (PT), therapy sessions in a week’s time, the period between admission and session with therapist, speech therapy (ST) and occupational therapy (OT). Besides, modified multiple logistic regression models will be applied to examine the effect of very early rehabilitation (VER) on clinical outcome and hospital care, (Reuter et al., 2016).

Results

The fraction of Intra-cerebral Hemorrhage patients in the care of a therapist was significantly lower for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and least for the speech therapy. As well, of all the patients in the recovery plan within the first 48 hours, occupational and speech therapy recorded significantly lower outcomes implying that ischemic patients with aphasia do not have better speech recovery in the first three days as opposed to after three days, (Reuter et al., 2016).

Article 2

This article aims to examine the nature of the relationship at the early stages of the post-stroke rehabilitation period, at a period when changes that are likely to influence the behavioral levels of ischemic stroke patients with aphasia are introduced.

Participants

To achieve its objectives, the study’s main participants include a random selection of 24 patients that possess the non-fluent aphasia condition, and are to undergo exactly fifteen consecutive sessions, that is, for five days every week for three weeks (Polanowska et al., 2013).

Dependent Variable

For the purpose of this study, the frequency of the verbal reactions or outcomes is the dependent variable.

Independent Variable

Besides, the time since the stroke or the reaction time is the independent variable for all patients.

Methods

The study subjects the participants to a pretreatment naming exercise, a rehabilitation process, a post-treatment naming exercise, and a follow-up for a predefined period under specific conditions by grouping them into two groups, namely the anodal trans cranial direct current stimulation (A-tDCS) and the Sham-tDCS. Later, an independent investigator conducts a group assessment, and a computer program is used for stratifying the random selections to ensure equal representation of different variables. Finally, the researchers examine and collect statistical data about the behavioral therapy as seen from the participants over a period of 5 days per week for three weeks, followed by a speech and language therapy (SLT) and a further three months rehabilitation program (Polanowska et al., 2013).

Results

The two groups revealed progress after therapy. However, there was no significant variance between the short-term and the long-term verbal reactions concerning the reaction times.

Article 3

This article seeks to assess if cognitive performance and its improvement with time can influence functional recovery for stroke patients in post-acute rehab centers with home discharge. Besides, the article assesses patients to reveal their demographic information, the functional variables by applying the CMBD-RSS that determines the data set tools usually applied in many nursing homes of the United States, (Pérez et al., 2015).

Participants

The study uses a total population of 1192 participants that are considered to be post-stroke patients. Of the number, 313 are excluded. The reason for the exclusion is because their longitudinal data is unavailable for the use in the study. Therefore, 879 stroke survivors make up for the entire study, (Pérez et al., 2015).

Dependent Variable

The dependent variable is functional recovery over time.

Independent Variable

The independent variable for this experiment is the collection of selective characteristics that involve the cognitive performance, and its transformation with time.

Methods

The experiment subjects the participants to post-acute care facilities where rehabilitation services are provided following acute discharge. This process includes a daily speech therapy that lasts up to three hours. The CMBD-RSS assessment criterion is used throughout the assessment process. The criterion considers certain characteristics such as Aphasia and Coma to determine the nature of the functional outcome. The CMBD-RSS later examines the cognitive function and assigns ranks depending on the severity of the impairment of the cognitive function. As well, the process identified the nature of the rehabilitation intensity and the period of each patient’s stay in the rehabilitation center, (Pérez et al., 2015).

Results

The study concludes that over time, change in cognitive performance may influence a patient’s functional recovery. However, this change is becoming more evident over time.

References

Perez, L., Inzitari, M., Roque, M., Duarte, E., Valles, E., Rodo, M., & Gallofre, M. (2015). Change in cognitive performance is associated with functional recovery during post-acute stroke rehabilitation: a multi-centric study from intermediate care geriatric rehabilitation units of Catalonia. Neurological Sciences, 36(10), 1875-1880. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10072-015-2273-3

Polanowska, K., Lesniak, M., Seniow, J., Czepiel, W., & Czlonkowska, A. (2013). Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation in early rehabilitation of patients with post-stroke non-fluent aphasia: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled pilot study. Restorative Neurology & Neuroscience, 13(1), 761-771. http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/RNN-130333

Reuter, B., Gumbinger, C., Sauer, T., Wiethölter, H., Bruder, I., & Diehm, C. et al. (2016). Access, timing and frequency of very early stroke rehabilitation – insights from the Baden-Wuerttemberg stroke registry. BMC Neurology, 16(1), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12883-016-0744-7