Abstract
Milne SC, Campagna EJ, Corben LA, Delatycki MB, Teo K, Churchyard AJ, Haines TP. Retrospective
study of the effects of inpatient rehabilitation on improving and maintaining functional
independence in people with Friedreich ataxia.
Objectives
To determine the effects of inpatient intervention for people with Friedreich ataxia
(FRDA), and to identify whether improvements gained were sustained postdischarge.
Design
This retrospective observational cohort study comprised people with FRDA admitted
to inpatient rehabilitation.
Setting
All participants in the study were referred by a specialist multidisciplinary FRDA
clinic to inpatient rehabilitation.
Participants
From 2003 until 2010, people (N=29; men, n=17; women, n=12) with FRDA were admitted
to rehabilitation, representing 42 admissions. On admission, 9 participants were ambulant
and 33 participants were nonambulant.
Interventions
Each participant was prescribed goal-related therapy on an individual basis by the
multidisciplinary team, and this consisted of a range of treatment approaches.
Main Outcome Measure
The FIM was used to determine the efficacy of inpatient rehabilitation.
Results
Consistent with the progressive nature of the condition, FIM scores, as measured on
an annual basis preintervention, declined over time. However, FIM scores increased
by a mean of 8.5 points during periods of inpatient rehabilitation and continued to
increase by a mean of 2.0 points during the period immediately after rehabilitation.
Results demonstrate these increases during and immediately after inpatient rehabilitation
were significant (P<.001).
Conclusions
To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence that a period
of inpatient rehabilitation reverses or halts the downward decline in function for
people with FRDA. The benefits from this intervention continued during the period
immediately after inpatient rehabilitation, indicating that these gains are more than
just short-term achievements. Further exploration of intensity, type, and length of
rehabilitation is required to ensure that the most appropriate rehabilitation is provided.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
FRDA (Friedreich ataxia)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 05, 2012
Footnotes
Supported by the Friedreich Ataxia Research Association (Australasia) and the Friedreich Ataxia Research Alliance (United States). Three of the authors are supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia), one as a Practitioner Fellow (grant no. 546452), one as an Early Career Fellow (grant no. 1037002), and one by a Career Development Fellowship (grant no. 606732).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
In-press corrected proof published online on May 11, 2012, at www.archives-pmr.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
