CLINICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC PREDICTORS OF UNILATERAL SPATIAL NEGLECT RECOVERY AFTER PRISM THERAPY AMONG STROKE SURVIVORS IN THE SUB-ACUTE PHASE OF RECOVERY

Abstract

Background and Aims Unilateral Spatial Neglect (USN) affects rehabilitation process and leads to poor outcomes after stroke. Intervention for USN treatment has been suggested such as prism therapy (PA). However, factors that influence USN recovery has not been investigated. This study investigated the predictors of USN recovery after prism therapy. Methods This study was a single-blinded randomised controlled trial. USN was assessed with the conventional subset of the behavioural inattention test (BIT-C). A total of 74 USN patients who presented with USN following right-brain damage were divided into prism (n = 37) and control (n = 37) groups. Prism group used 20 dioptre prism lenses for repeated aiming, for 12 sessions, the control group used neutral lenses for similar aiming training. Clinical recovery was defined as BIT-C score>129: recovery, BIT-C score< 129: No recovery. Logistic regression was done to establish significant variable in the prediction recovery after PA. Results There were significantly greater improvement of BIT-C in the intervention group post treatment (P≤0.001). Predictor variables considered in this study was cognitive ability (assessed using the mini-mental scale), gender, age, years of education, race, employment status, handedness, type of stroke, site of stroke and site of stroke. Cognitive ability (OR =1.52, CI=1.08-2.14, p= 0.016) was found to significantly influence recovery following PA treatment. Conclusions This study highlights the characteristics of stroke patient that will most likely benefit from a PA treatment regimen. Higher cognitive ability was implicated to be a factor for USN recovery after PA treatment post-stroke.