Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33739436›Full record

SynthesisJournal of rehabilitation medicine2021

Effects of robot-assisted training on balance function in patients with stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Lu Wang, Yu Zheng, Yini Dang, Meiling Teng, Xintong Zhang, Yihui Cheng, Xiu Zhang, Qiuyu Yu, Aimei Yin, Xiao Lu

Open access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of rehabilitation medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
5.8field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.

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  11. Effect and optimal exercise prescription of robot-assisted gait training on lower extremity motor function in stroke patients: a network meta-analysis.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Lu WangRehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Yu Zheng
Yini Dang
Meiling Teng
Xintong Zhang
Yihui Cheng
Xiu Zhang
Qiuyu Yu
Aimei Yin
Xiao Lu
Nanjing Medical University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo investigate the effectiveness of robot-assisted therapy on balance function in stroke survivors. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were searched systematically for relevant studies. STUDY SELECTION: Randomized controlled trials reporting robot-assisted therapy on balance function in patients after stroke were included. DATA EXTRACTION: Information on study characteristics, demographics, interventions strategies and outcome measures were extracted by 2 reviewers. DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of 19 randomized trials fulfilled the inclusion criteria and 13 out of 19 were included in the meta-analysis. Analysis revealed that robot-assisted therapy significantly improved balance function assessed by berg balance scale (weighted mean difference (WMD) 3.58, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.89-5.28, p < 0.001) compared with conventional therapy. Secondary analysis indicated that there was a significant difference in balance recovery between the conventional therapy and robot-assisted therapy groups in the acute/subacute stages of stroke (WMD 5.40, 95% CI 3.94-6.86, p < 0.001), while it was not significant in the chronic stages. With exoskeleton devices, the balance recovery in robot-assisted therapy groups was significantly better than in the conventional therapy groups (WMD 3.73, 95% CI 1.83-5.63, p < 0.001). Analysis further revealed that a total training time of more than 10 h can significantly improve balance function (WMD 4.53, 95% CI 2.31-6.75, p < 0.001). No publication bias or small study effects were observed according to the Cochrane Collaboration tool.

conclusionThese results suggest that robot-assisted therapy is an effective intervention for improving balance function in stroke survivors.

Indexed as

HumansOutcome Assessment, Health CareRoboticsStrokeStroke Rehabilitationbalance functionBerg Balance Scalemeta-analysisrobot-assisted therapystroke

Identifiers

PMID33739436
PMCPMC8814888
OpenAlexW3139109771

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.