Abstract
Objectives
To compare respiratory muscle strength in stroke survivors (SS) with that in a control
group (CG) of healthy people matched by age and sex, as well as to investigate any
relation between respiratory muscle strength and the distance walked during the 6-minute
walk test (6MWT).
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
This study comprised patients from a private neurological rehabilitation center and
a public association for patients with acquired brain injury.
Participants
Chronic SS with a diagnosis of hemiplegia/hemiparesis who were able to walk (n=30)
and healthy individuals matched by sex and age (n=30) (N=60).
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Respiratory muscle strength was assessed using maximal expiratory pressure (MEP) and
maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) with a pressure transducer and a diver nozzle.
The distance walked during the 6MWT was also registered for both groups. The motricity
index and the Scale Impact of Stroke version 16.0 were also measured in SS.
Results
The Student t test revealed significantly lower values of MIP and MEP in SS than in the CG (MEP,
95.93±43.12cmH2O in SS vs 158.43±41.6cmH2O in the CG; MIP, 58.7±24.67cmH2O in SS vs 105.7±23.14cmH2O in the CG; P<.001). Moreover, these findings were clinically relevant because both MIP and MEP
in SS were <60% of the predicted values. A positive correlation between the 6MWT and
MIP was found using the Pearson coefficient (r=.43; P<.018).
Conclusions
Respiratory muscle weakness should be considered in a holistic approach to stroke
rehabilitation.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
6MWT (6-minute walk test), CG (control group), MEP (maximal expiratory pressure), MIP (maximal inspiratory pressure), SS (stroke survivors)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 28, 2015
Footnotes
Disclosures: none
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
