HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Correspondence: Submit a response Correspondence: View responses Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Krarup, L. -H. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Krarup, L. -H. Related Collections All Cerebrovascular disease/Stroke Cohort studies Infarction

Prestroke physical activity is associated with severity and long-term outcome from first-ever stroke

From the Department of Neurology (L.-H.K., T.T., G.B.), Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark; Copenhagen Trial Unit (L.-H.K., C.G.), Center for Clinical Intervention Research, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark; Department of Neurology (G.A.), Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark; Dept. of Neurology (X.Z.), Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, Chengdu, China; Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery (J.K.), University of Tartu, Estonia; and 2nd Department of Neurology (A.O.), Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Lars-Henrik Krarup, Department of Neurology, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, DK-2400 Copenhagen, Denmark lh.krarup{at}gmail.com

Objective: To determine whether prestroke level of physical activity influenced stroke severity and long-term outcome.

Methods: Patients included into the present analyses represent a subset of patients with first-ever stroke enrolled into the ExStroke Pilot Trial. Patients with ischemic stroke were randomized in the ExStroke Pilot Trial to an intervention of repeated instructions and encouragement to increase the level of physical activity or to a control group. Prestroke level of physical activity was assessed retrospectively by interview using the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) questionnaire. The PASE questionnaire quantifies the amount of physical activity done during a 7-day period. In this prospectively collected patient population initial stroke severity was measured using the Scandinavian Stroke Scale and long-term outcome was assessed after 2 years using the modified Rankin Scale. Statistical analyses were done using ordinal logistic regression.

Results: Data from 265 patients were included with a mean (SD) age of 68.2 (12.2) years. Confirming univariable analyses, multivariable analyses showed that patients with physical activity in the top quartile more likely presented with a less severe stroke, OR 2.54 (95% CI 1.30–4.95), and had a decreased likelihood of poor outcome, OR 0.46 (95% CI 0.22–0.96), compared to patients in the lowest quartile.

Conclusions: In the present study physical activity prior to stroke was associated with a less severe stroke and better long-term outcome.

Abbreviations: mRS = modified Rankin Scale; PASE = Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly; SSS = Scandinavian Stroke Scales.

The ExStroke Pilot Trial was funded by the Ludvig and Sara Elsass Foundation, Hede Nielsen Foundation, Eva and Henry Frænkels Foundation, Søren and Helene Hempels Foundation, and King Christian the 10th Foundation.

Disclosure: The authors report no disclosures.

Received March 10, 2008. Accepted in final form July 16, 2008.

Correspondence: