Comparison between Home-Based Exercise and Hospital-Based Supervised Exercise in the Early Rehabilitation of Stroke Patients

Introduction: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide and more so in underdeveloped countries like Bangladesh, where health support systems including rehabilitation not expectedly available. Early initiation of rehabilitation procedures can enable a greater return of neurological function and improve long-term outcomes and quality of life. In this study, we aimed to compare the effects of home-based exercise and hospital-based supervised exercise in the early rehabilitation of stroke patients. Methods: This was a prospective observational study and was conducted in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from January, 2014 to June, 2014. In our study, we included 250 patients, and the patients were divided into two groups – Group A (Patients who got home-based exercise) and Group B (Patients who got hospital-based exercise). Result: We found the mean age of the patients of Group A & Group B was 56.75± 9.45 and 55.46± 10.58 years respectively. Among the patients, 41% were female,59% were male and 168 (67.2%) patients had been suffering from ischemic stroke and 82 (32.8%) patients from hemorrhagic stroke. The most common risk factors were HTN, dyslipidemia, and obesity. Mean FIM gain in Group A was 37.97 ± 17.52 and in Group B was 48.56 ± 21.22 which was significantly higher than that of Group A patients. Conclusion: In our study, we found that hospital-based supervised exercise is superior to home-based exercise within 4 weeks of stroke in early rehabilitation of stroke patients.