What are the potential benefits of participating in a Stroke Recovery Programme?
A recent prospective cohort study with a matched subgroup comparison (N=609) evaluated a Stroke Recovery Programme with 3 components: physician visits, outpatient therapy, and modified cardiac rehabilitation consisting of group therapy of 4 to 5 patients with stroke directed by a specially trained physical therapist and physical therapy assistant compared with usual rehabilitation. Nonrandomized subgroup analysis comparing Stroke Recovery Programme participants (n=76) and matched pairs of nonparticipants (n=66), in addition to functional gains, identified an age-adjusted HR of 0.11 (SE, 1.07 [95% CI, 0.01 0.90]; P=0.039) for the effect of participant group, suggesting that nonparticipants had a 9 times higher hazard of mortality.844