Changes in activity levels in the first three months after mild and moderate stroke

Research Objectives: To investigate changes in physical activity in the first three months post mild/moderate stroke, and to explore the relationship between time spent on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and cardiorespiratory fitness, fatigue, mood and quality of life.

Design: Longitudinal observational study

Setting: Community

Participants: Thirty adults diagnosed with mild/moderate stroke admitted to an acute stroke ward in Melbourne, Australia were included in this study. All participants gave written consent. Stroke survivors with severe cardiac or musculoskeletal disease, or neurological disease other than stroke were excluded.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: The main outcome was daily time spent in MVPA measured using a multi-sensor armband. The device collects data on movement, body position and galvanic skin reactions. Each participant wore the armband for 3-7-days at three time-points: < 14 days post-stroke (T1), one month (T2) and three-months (T3) post-stroke. Additionally, cardiorespiratory fitness, fatigue, mood and quality of life were assessed at each time-point.

Results: Thirty participants were included (24 male/6 female) with a median age of 69 years (IQR 56.5-75.0), and a median time post-stroke at baseline of 8.5 days (IQR 5-11). Twenty-nine participants were included in the analysis at T1, n=28 at T2 and n=25 at T3. Median daily time (7AM and 10PM) spent in MVPA (>3.0 Metabolic Equivalent of Task) did not change over time with a median of 42 minutes (IQR 21-99), 58 minutes (40-111), and 51 minutes (IQR 25-102) at T1, T2, and T3 respectively. No changes were identified in cardiorespiratory fitness, fatigue, mood or quality of life.

Conclusions: Time spent in MVPA did not change in people after mild/moderate stroke in the first three months post-stroke. All participants had a high level of physical function however, the range of time spent in MVPA varied between individuals ranging from 3-280 minutes. These results indicate that levels of PA might be associated to other factors such as motivation, self-efficacy and fatigue and need to be further investigated in larger samples.

Author(s) Disclosures: None of the authors have any conflict of interest to disclose.