The effects of nutrition supplement on rehabilitation for patients with stroke: Analysis based on 16 randomized controlled trials

Background: Malnutrition is a relatively common and often unrecognized condition in stroke survivors, which may negatively affect functional recovery and survival. Though previous studies have indicated significant role of nutrition supplement for rehabilitation of patients with stroke, the results still remain controversy. Objective: The present analysis was designed to systematically review effective evidence of nutrition supplement on rehabilitation for patients with stroke. Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science up to August 1, 2021 was performed to find relevant studies that analyzed the effect of nutrition supplement on rehabilitation of patients with stroke. The primary outcome was functional outcomes and activities of daily living (ADL). The secondary outcomes included disability, all-cause mortality, infections, pneumonia, walking ability, stroke recurrence, and laboratory results indicating nutrition status of patients. All statistical analyses were performed using standard statistical procedures with Review Manager 5.2. Results: Ultimately, 16 studies including 7547 patients were identified. Our pooled results found no significant difference in total, cognitive and motor FIM score between nutrition supplement and placebo groups, with pooled MDs of 7.64 (95% CI - 1.67 to 16.94; P = .11), 0.74 (95% CI - 1.33 to 2.81; P = .48), 1.11 (95% CI - 1.68 to 3.90; P = .44), respectively. However, our result showed that nutritional interventions had significant effect on ADL for patients with stroke (MD 3.26; 95% CI 0.59 to 5.93; P = .02). In addition, nutrition supplement reduced the incidence of infections for patients with stroke, with a pooled RR of 0.65 (95% CI 0.51 to 0.84; P = .0008). No significant results were found in disabilities, complication and laboratory outcomes. Conclusions: The present meta-analysis indicated no statistically significant effect of nutrition supplement on functional outcomes as well as disabilities, complication and laboratory outcomes for patients with stroke. However, it increased ADL and reduced the incidence of infections.

Automated summary

This study systematically reviewed the effect of nutrition supplement on the rehabilitation of stroke patients and found that nutrition supplement did not have a significant impact on functional outcomes, disabilities, and laboratory results. However, it was found to improve activities of daily living (ADL) and reduce the incidence of infections for stroke patients.