Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35864524›Full record

SynthesisJournal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation2022

Short and long-term effects of robot-assisted therapy on upper limb motor function and activity of daily living in patients post-stroke: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Liping Zhang, Gongwei Jia, Jingxi Ma, Sanrong Wang, Li Cheng

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

Synthesis in Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
30citing papers in PubMed, 9 pooled it
5.0field-weighted citation impact, top 4% 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

30 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.

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  3. Efficacy of digital health technologies as adjunctive functional training in occupational therapy for stroke rehabilitation: a meta-analysis.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026
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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

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Liping ZhangDepartment of Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 76 Linjiang Road, Yuzhong, Chongqing, 400010, China.
Gongwei JiaDepartment of Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 76 Linjiang Road, Yuzhong, Chongqing, 400010, China.
Jingxi MaDepartment of Neurology, Chongqing General Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400013, China.
Sanrong WangDepartment of Rehabilitation, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 76 Linjiang Road, Yuzhong, Chongqing, 400010, China.
Li ChengDepartment of Health Management, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, 76 Linjiang Road, Yuzhong, Chongqing, 400010, China. chengli@hospital.cqmu.edu.cn.
Dalian Medical University · CNChongqing Medical University · CNUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo investigate the effect of robot-assisted therapy (RAT) on upper limb motor control and activity function in poststroke patients compared with that of non-robotic therapy.

methodsWe searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and Scopus. Randomized controlled trials published from 2010 to nowadays comparing the effect of RAT and control treatment on upper limb function of poststroke patients aged 18 or older were included. Researchers extracted all relevant data from the included studies, assessed the heterogeneity with inconsistency statistics (I

resultForty-six studies were included. Meta-analysis showed that the outcome of the Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity assessment (FM-UE) (SMD = 0.20, P = 0.001) and activity function post intervention was significantly higher (SMD = 0.32, P < 0.001) in the RAT group than in the control group. Differences in outcomes of the FM-UE and activity function between the RAT group and control group were observed at the end of treatment and were not found at the follow-up. Additionally, the outcomes of the FM-UE (SMD = 0.15, P = 0.005) and activity function (SMD = 0.32, P = 0.002) were significantly different between the RAT and control groups only with a total training time of more than 15 h. Moreover, the differences in outcomes of FM-UE and activity post intervention were not significant when the arm robots were applied to patients with severe impairments (FM-UE: SMD = 0.14, P = 0.08; activity: SMD = 0.21, P = 0.06) or when patients were provided with patient-passive training (FM-UE: SMD = - 0.09, P = 0.85; activity: SMD = 0.70, P = 0.16).

conclusionRAT has the significant immediate benefits for motor control and activity function of hemiparetic upper limb in patients after stroke compared with controls, but there is no evidence to support its long-term additional benefits. The superiority of RAT in improving motor control and activity function is limited by the amount of training time and the patients' active participation.

Indexed as

RoboticsStrokeStroke RehabilitationActivities of Daily LivingHumansRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicRecovery of FunctionUpper ExtremityMeta-analysisRehabilitationRobot-assisted therapyStrokeUpper limb

Identifiers

PMID35864524
PMCPMC9306153
OpenAlexW4286110791

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.