Assessing the efficacy of different upper limb hemiparesis interventions on improving health-related quality of life in stroke patients: a systematic review

The review aims to assess the efficacy of upper limb interventions on stroke survivors’ health-related quality of life. Published studies were identified following a systematic search of the literature from 10 electronic databases, 3 subject relevant journals, a web search via a popular search engine, and reference lists of the included articles. In total, 22 articles met the inclusion criteria and were subjected to data extraction in order to establish the effectiveness of the intervention on quality of life scores. Interventions varied according to their content including acupuncture treatment, botulinum toxin type A injections, constraint-induced movement therapy, task training and therapeutic exercise. Studies were required to have at least one quantitative outcome measure of quality of life Out of the 22 included studies, 12 reported significant findings in certain domains of quality of life. This demonstrated the need for upper limb intervention studies to focus on quality of life as a primary outcome measure in addition to the functional outcomes currently used.