Do Physically Active Patients Have Better Functional Outcome after Stroke? A Systematic Review

Background and Purpose Stroke is one of the major causes of mortality and, among survivors, disability. Physical activity has a protective effect maybe due to a major control of risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and body weight. However, the effect of prestroke physical activity and the poststroke functional outcomes needs clarification. Methods We made a systematic review of the literature to elucidate this effect through electronic search in the MEDLINE/PubMed database. Prisma statement was used as a basis for this systematic review and analysis of the risk of bias was made according to the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation. Three studies were finally analyzed in this review. Results The largest of the studies (Rist et al) revealed no association between prior physical activity and functional outcome after stroke. The second major study (Stroud et al) showed only a slight association. Only the smallest of the 3 studies (Krarup et al) showed a protective effect of physical activity. Conclusions The evidence of the protective effect of physical activity is still conflicting. Better longitudinal studies are still needed to see the real effect of physical activity on functional outcome after stroke.