A meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of two different upper limb hemi paresis interventions on improving health-related quality of life following stroke

The paper presents the results of a meta-analysis from a systematic review published elsewhere. The aim of this paper is to quantitatively assess the efficacy of different upper limb interventions on health-related quality of life in stroke patients. Two botulinum type A injection (BTX-A) studies and four constraint-induced movement therapy studies were separately combined in meta-analysis using a fixed effects model. Quality of life mean scores were extracted and transformed into weighted mean differences. Combined, the BTX-A studies showed no significant improvements in overall health-related quality of life, p=.341. Similarly four CIMT studies revealed non-significant findings for the domains of activities of daily living, communication and hand function. Separate Mmeta-analysis of three CIMT studies again revealed non-significant results for memory, mobility, mood, participation and overall recovery. This report did not show these types of upper limb interventions to be effective in improving health-related quality of life in the post stroke population.