Advances in Rehabilitation Outcomes and Care in Patients with Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness

Prolonged disorders of consciousness (pDoC) severely affects the patients' survival and quality of life, and causes an extremely heavy disease burden. At present, considerable resources and studies have focused on the acute care of patients with pDoC, and substantial progress has been made in detecting, predicting and promoting recovery of consciousness, but there is little research on post-acute rehabilitation outcomes and care. In views of this, we reviewed the definition, epidemiological surveys, clinical symptoms and diagnosis criteria of pDoC, summarized the associated factors, interventions and nursing regarding rehabilitation outcomes of pDoC. Then, we put forward the following recommendations relevant to future research and practice in China: (1) improving the epidemiological data related to pDoC to provide data for relevant decision-making; (2) studying and applying new technologies to interventions for pDoC rehabilitation, and integrating clinical practice, rehabilitation prediction and prognostic m