Monday, April 23, 2012

Cognitive and graded activity training can alleviate persistent fatigue after stroke: a randomized, controlled trial.

I'm not going to buy the full article to see if they list what the cognitive training consists of. I am concerned that this is just another compensatory protocol. I wish they would research exactly what is causing the fatigue before trying to come up with solutions. Cart before the horse and all.
https://www.medify.com/insights/article/22308241/cognitive-and-graded-activity-training-can-alleviate-persistent-fatigue-after-stroke-a-randomized-controlled-trial
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Fatigue is a common, persistent consequence of stroke, and no evidence-based treatments are currently available to alleviate fatigue. A new treatment combining cognitive therapy (CO) with graded activity training (GRAT), called COGRAT, was developed to alleviate fatigue and fatigue-related symptoms. This study compared the effectiveness of the COGRAT intervention with a CO-only intervention after a 3-month qualification period without intervention.
METHODS: This randomized, controlled, assessor-blind clinical trial was conducted in 8 rehabilitation centers. Eighty-three stroke patients (>4 months after stroke) were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of CO or COGRAT after qualification. Seventy-three patients completed treatment and 68 were available at follow-up. Primary outcomes (Checklist Individual Strength-subscale Fatigue (CIS-f); self-observation list-fatigue (SOL-f)) and secondary outcomes (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Stroke-Adapted Sickness Impact Profile, SOL-pain, SOL-sleep-D, 6-minute walk test) were collected at baseline (before and after qualification period) and after treatment (immediate and 6-month follow-up).
RESULTS: The qualification period showed stable outcome measures. Both treatments showed significant beneficial effects on fatigue (CIS-f: η(p)(2)=0.48, P<0.001) and other outcomes (except pain and anxiety) with intention-to-treat analyses. Gains for the COGRAT group exceeded those in the CO group on number of individuals showing clinical improvement on the CIS-f (≥8 points: 58% versus 24%) and on physical endurance (η(p)(2)=0.20, P<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: A 12-week cognitive therapy program can alleviate persistent fatigue after stroke. The best results are obtained when cognitive therapy is augmented with graded activity training. Clinical Trial Registration- URL: http://www.trialregister.nl. Unique identifier: NTR2704.

But ask your doctor to get the article to see if it might help.

1 comment:

  1. Any treatment program that allows me to turn back the clock and do things I used to do before my stroke works for me.

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