Early Sitting in Ischemic Stroke Patients (SEVEL): A Randomized Controlled Trial

<div><p>Background</p><p>Extended immobility has been associated with medical complications during hospitalization. However no clear recommendations are available for mobilization of ischemic stroke patients.</p><p>Objective</p><p>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.</p><p>Methods</p><p>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.</p><p>Results</p><p>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.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>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.</p><p>Trial Registration</p><p>ClinicalTrials.gov <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01573299?term=NCT01573299&rank=1" target="_blank">NCT01573299</a></p></div

Subsequently excluded patients

List and causes related to the exclusion of the 29 patient

TABLE_3_OUTCOME_database

Patients outcome according to the sitting procedur

TABLE_4_MEDICAL_COMPLICATIONS database

Medical complication occurrence and description according to group affiliatio

Medical complication prevalence in early and progressive sitting procedures.

<p>Medical complication prevalence in early and progressive sitting procedures.</p

Flow chart of the study.

<p>Flow chart of the study.</p

Tolerance in early and progressive sitting procedures.

<p>Tolerance in early and progressive sitting procedures.</p

Description of the population.

<p>Description of the population.</p

TABLE_2_TOLERANCE database

Physiology of the patients during the two types of sitting procedure, and side effects description