400 Section - The Use of Quality of Life Outcome Measures in Stroke Rehabilitation Motor and Cognitive Randomized Controlled Trials

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM PT

Presenting Author/Autor expositor(s)

JC

Joy Chowdhury, BHSc

Student
Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Ontario, Canada
London, Ontario, Canada

Co-Author/Coautor(s)

BL

Benjamin Luebke, n/a

Student
Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Ontario, Canada.
London, Ontario, Canada
BG

Brooke Gelinas, BSc

Student
Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Ontario, Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
AH

Areeb Hassan, MSc

Student
Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Ontario, Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
MC

Michelle Chow, MSc

Student
Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Ontario, Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
JF

Jamie Fleet, MD

Physician
University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, Canada
MQ

Mohammad Reza Safaei Qomi, MD

Clinical Research Assistant
Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London, Ontario, Canada
London, Ontario, Canada
CF

Cecilia Flores-Sandoval, PhD

Research Coordinator
Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London
London, Ontario, Canada
SM

Sarvenaz Mehrabi, MD

Senior Researcher
Parkwood Hospital, Lawson Research Institute, St. Joseph's Healthcare London
London, Ontario, Canada

Corresponding Author/Autor a quien dirigir la corr(s)

Robert W. Teasell, MD, FRCPC

Professor
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada., Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Health Care London
London, Ontario, Canada

Objectives : Stroke is the third leading cause of long-term disability worldwide and has substantial negative impacts on survivors’ quality of life (QoL). This systematic review examines which QoL outcome measures (OMs) have been used in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of motor and cognitive rehabilitation following stroke.

Design: CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase were searched from inception to the end of 2024. Studies were included if they (1) were English-language parallel or crossover RCTs; (2) enrolled adult participants (≥18 years) with ≥50% diagnosed with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke; and (3) evaluated a motor or cognitive rehabilitation intervention as the primary objective. Two independent reviewers screened studies and extracted data. All primary and secondary OMs used to assess intervention efficacy were recorded.

Results: 3602 motor-cognitive stroke rehabilitation RCTs were included and used over 800 types of OMs. Across all OMs, 36 unique OMs specifically assessed the QoL 618 times. The most commonly utilized QoL measures included Stroke Impact Scale (222 RCTs), EQ-5-D (90 RCTs), SF-36 (79 RCTs), Stroke Specific QoL (76 RCTs), Nottingham Health Profile (23 RCTs), EQ-VAS (19 RCTs), Stroke and Aphasia QoL (19 RCTs), SF12 (16 RCTs), and WHOQOL-BREF (12 RCTs), with the remainder of OMs being used in less than 10 RCTs each. Despite an increase in the use of QoL outcome measures over time, QoL was evaluated in only 14% of motor and cognitive rehabilitation RCTs.

Conclusion:

QoL measures used in motor and cognitive stroke rehabilitation RCTs are heterogeneous but largely dominated by four well-established outcome measures. Standardization of QoL assessment in this field is recommended to improve the feasibility of conducting meta-analyses and enhancing evidence synthesis for QoL outcomes after stroke as an essential component of participation and community-based stroke rehabilitation.