Data from: Early sitting in ischemic stroke patients (SEVEL): a randomized controlled trial

Background: Extended immobility has been associated with medical
complications during hospitalization. However no clear recommendations are
available for mobilization of ischemic stroke patients. Objective: As
early mobilization has been shown to be feasible and safe, we tested the
hypothesis that early sitting could be beneficial to stroke patient
outcome. Methods: This prospective multicenter study tested two sitting
procedures at the acute phase of ischemic stroke, in a randomized
controlled fashion (clinicaltrials.org registration number NCT01573299).
Patients were eligible if they were above 18 years of age and showed no
sign of massive infarction or any contra-indication for sitting. In the
early-sitting group, patients were seated out of bed at the earliest
possible time but no later than one calendar day after stroke onset,
whereas the progressively-sitting group was first seated out of bed on the
third calendar day after stroke onset. Primary outcome measure was the
proportion of patients with a modified Rankin score [0–2] at 3 months post
stroke. Secondary outcome measures were a.) prevalence of medical
complications, b.) length of hospital stay, and c.) tolerance to the
procedure. Results: One hundred sixty seven patients were included in the
study, of which 29 were excluded after randomization. Data from 138
patients, 63 in the early-sitting group and 75 in the
progressively-sitting group were analyzed. There was no difference
regarding outcome of people with stroke, with a proportion of Rankin [0–2]
score at 3 months of 76.2% and 77.3% of patients in the early- and
progressive-sitting groups, respectively (p = 0.52). There was also no
difference between groups for secondary outcome measures, and the
procedure was well tolerated in both arms. Conclusion: Due to a slow
enrollment, fewer patients than anticipated were available for analysis.
As a result, we can only detect beneficial/detrimental effects of +/- 15%
of the early sitting procedure on stroke outcome with a realized 37%
power. However, enrollment was sufficient to rule out effect sizes greater
than 25% with 80% power, indicating that early sitting is unlikely to have
an extreme effect in either direction on stroke outcome. Additionally, we
were not able to provide a blinded assessment of the primary outcome.
Taking these limitations into account, our results may help guide the
development of more effective acute stroke rehabilitation strategies, and
the design of future acute stroke trials involving out of bed activities
and other mobilization regimens.