Respiratory function in chronic stroke patients: an observational study

Abstract

Introduction: Stroke is defined as a permanently or temporarily disease that affects a certain area of the brain, secondary to a vascular disorder and with a duration of more than 24 hours. In the third chronic period of the pathology, respiratory disorders are among the most frequent symptoms producing a functional impairment. Several previous studies have reported a lack of knowledge in the etiology and development of ventilatory disorders; however, the related symptoms are recognized as clinically relevant in chronic stroke patients.

Objective: To analyse the respiratory function in patients with chronic stroke.

Methods: A cross-sectional case-control study was performed. Patients diagnosed with chronic stroke were compared with a sex-matched and age-matched control group. The respiratory function variables (FVC Pred., FEV1 Pred., FET Pred., MVV Pred. and FEM) were measured with the spirometry and the peak flow meter. We calculate the predicted values concerning the normal values of the respiratory variables since the spirometric values will have variability between each participant, due to the characteristics of each one.

Results: 10 patients with chronic stroke were included in this study and 10 age and gender-matched healthy controls. Significant differences were found across groups being worse respiratory values in chronic stroke group (p˂0.001).However, we observed that there were no significant differences in the FEV1%Pred. variable between both groups(p=0.566).

Conclusion: Our results showed that chronic stroke patients show significant impairment in pulmonary function, cough effectiveness, and respiratory muscle strength compared to the control group, and as a consequence, a loss of functionality at this level.