Effects of the nurse-led program on disabilities improvement in patients with ischemic stroke

To evaluate whether the nurse-led program can improve disabilities in patients with ischemic stroke for more than 6 months. This is a randomized, open-label study. Participants in the usual-care group received the usual care that included verbal stroke-related education and secondary prevention. Participants in the active group received the usual care plus the nurse-led program intervention. The disability was evaluated using National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). The Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) was used to assess mental health status (MHS). The median duration since ischemic stroke was 8.4 and 8.6 months, respectively. At baseline, there was no difference in the median NIHSS value and the NIHSS category between these 2 groups. After 6 months’ follow-up, the median NIHSS value was lower in the active group (4.1 vs 6.3). The proportion of patients with NIHSS of 1 to 4 was higher (50.0% vs 28.6%) while the proportion of patients with NIHSS of 5 to 12 (24.1% vs 51.8%) was lower in the active group. After multivariate regression analysis, the nurse-led program was negatively associated with increased NIHSS category (odds ratio of 0.70 and 95% confidence interval of 0.62–0.88). In the group with MHI-5 less than median, the nurse-led program was not associated with NIHSS category. While in the group with MHI-5 greater than median, the nurse-led program was associated decreased NIHSS category, with a significant interaction (P value = .03). In ischemic stroke patients for more than 6 months, the nurse-led program improves disabilities, which might be related to MHS improvement.