Contribution of Physical Activities to Health-Related Quality of Life of Stroke Survivors

Abstract

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) post-stroke is an important health issue since functional impairments and socioeconomic inhibitions are associated with stroke affect HRQoL. Participation in physical activity (PA) post-stroke has not been investigated as a possible explanatory variable of HRQoL. Acute stroke survivors are exposed to physical deconditioning and long-term disability, effects that may impact their independence and quality of life. The aim of the present study was to determine the contribution of PA to the HRQoL of individuals with acute stroke. The study was conducted from January 2022 to February 2022, at the out patients’ unit of a government hospital, as a quantitative study from a survey. HRQoL was assessed by the physical and mental composite scores of the medical outcomes study short form- 36 (SF- 36) of twenty-four (n=24) adults with acute stroke (mean age= 50.70 years). After four weeks of aerobic, flexibility, strength, neuromuscular exercise intervention program completion, HRQoL was reassessed using SF- 36. T-test and correlation analyses were performed on the data. As assessed, general health (GH), role physical (PR), emotional health (EH), bodily pain (BP), vitality (V), role emotion (ER), social functioning (SF) domains of the SF- 36 questionnaire are significantly impacted (p<0.05) except physical functioning (PF). Even among all the domains, PR and EH were the most positively affected domains. The results suggest that PA intervention for acute stroke survivors is associated with better HRQoL as assessed by the physical and mental composite score of the SF- 36. Also, daily PA with the intervention should be encouraged with the same or similar exercises to potentially increase HRQoL of acute stroke survivors.