Go home, sit less: The impact of home versus hospital rehabilitation environment on activity levels of stroke survivors

You're measuring the wrong endpoint, activity, rather than recovery. 

Go home, sit less: The impact of home versus hospital rehabilitation environment on activity levels of stroke survivors

 Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation , Volume 99(11) , Pgs. 2216-2221, 2221.e1.

NARIC Accession Number: J79843.  What's this?
ISSN: 0003-9993.
Author(s): Simpson, Dawn B.; Breslin, Monique; Cumming Toby; de Zoete, Sam; Gall, Seana L.; Schmidt, Matthew; English, Coralie; Callisaya, Michele L..
Publication Year: 2018.
Number of Pages: 7.
Abstract: Study examined whether change in rehabilitation environment (hospital or home) and other factors influence time spent sitting upright and walking after stroke. Thirty-four participants with stroke were recruited from 2 inpatient rehabilitation units. Physical activity data were measured using an activity monitor at 2 time points: the final week of inpatient rehabilitation and the first week at home. Along with demographic variables obtained from medical records, other covariates included mood, fatigue, physical function, pain, and cognition. Linear mixed models were performed to examine the associations between the environment (exposure) and physical activity levels (outcome) in the hospital and at home. Interaction terms between the exposure and other covariates were added to the model to determine whether they modified activity with change in environment. The mean age of participants was 68 years and 53 percent were male. At home, participants spent 45 fewer minutes sitting, 45 more minutes upright, and 12 more minutes walking, and completed 724 additional steps each day compared to in the hospital. Depression at discharge predicted greater sitting time and less upright time at home. Results suggest that the environmental change from hospital to home was associated with reduced sitting time and increased the time spent physically active, though depression modified this change. The rehabilitation environment may be a target to reduce sitting and promote physical activity.