Access to rehabilitation after stroke in Brazil (AReA study): preliminary analysis.

Research Objectives: to investigate the Access to Rehabilitation After discharge from public hospitals in Brazil, up to six months after stroke.

Design: cross-sectional study.

Setting: Multicenter study in eighteen public health centers. We presented data from seven centers collected between January, 2020 and January, 2022.

Participants: preliminary analysis of the first 100 participants (convenience sample).

Interventions: Subjects within six months to 1 year post-stroke answered a survey about access to rehabilitation during the first 6 months after discharge.

Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome is the percentage of patients who had access to any physical therapy session after hospital discharge within the first six months after stroke onset. The secondary outcomes are referral to physical therapy after hospital discharge; the percentages of patients who had access to multidisciplinary team after discharge; the percentage of patients who received health instructions until six months after stroke; patients´ and families´ preferences about the rehabilitation process.

Results: In this preliminary analysis, the median age was 63 years-old [54.5:70] and 50% of the patients were women. They answered the survey with a median time of 8 months [7:10] post-stroke and 92% had ischemic strokes. The median NIHSS was 2 [1:4.25] and the Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) 2 [1:3]. Most participants (57%) reported that they had no access to Physical Therapy within the first 6 months post-stroke. In addition, 97% did not have access to physiatrists, 77% to speech therapists, 93% to psychologist, 83% to occupational therapist and 80% to nutritionist. Sixty-four subjects related that they were referred to a rehabilitation center, and Physical Therapy (37%) was the most cited, with a wait time of four weeks for the first visit.

Conclusions: These preliminary findings indicate a gap in rehabilitation after stroke but may have been influenced by the pandemic. The study is ongoing.

Author(s) Disclosures: No conflict of interests.