International Journal of
Medicine and Medical Sciences

  • Abbreviation: Int. J. Med. Med. Sci.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2006-9723
  • DOI: 10.5897/IJMMS
  • Start Year: 2009
  • Published Articles: 536

Article in Press

Post-Stroke Fatigue, Cardiopulmonary Function and Quality of Life of Stroke Survivors

Caleb Ademola Omuwa GBIRI, Happiness A. AWETO, Eniola Olayinka MOGAJI, Jibrin Sammani Usman

  •  Received: 28 March 2020
  •  Accepted: 08 July 2020
Background Aims: Post-stroke fatigues (PSF), poor cardiopulmonary function (CPF) and quality of life (QoL) are major challenges to effective stroke rehabilitation. This study determined PSF, CPF, QoL and explored relationships and associations between PSF and CPF and QoL in stroke survivors (SSv). Methods: Study involved 54 (25 females) SSv without cardiorespiratory disorders prior to stroke. PSF and QoL was assessed using fatigue severity-scale and Stroke-Specific-QoL respectively. CPF: Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in one-second (FEV1), Peak Expiratory Flow and FEV1/FVC, blood pressures and heart rate were measured while rate pressure product was calculated. Data was analyzed using Pearson’s and Spearman’s Correlation and Chi-Square (p<0.05). Results: Their age ranged between 26years and 80years. Thirty-seven (68.58%) of the participants had PSF. Forty-eight (88.89%) had normal heart rate and 5.56% each had bradycardia and tachycardia. Most (98.15%) of the participants had tachypnoea while only one of them had normal respiratory rate. Fifty-two (96.30%) of the participants had low rate pressure product while only two of them had low intermediate product. Fifty (92.6%) of the participants had below average QoL while four of them had good QoL. There was significant (p<0.05) relationship and association between PSF and FVC, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC and QoL. Conclusion: Post-stroke fatigue is common among stroke survivors and it impact negatively on their CPF and QoL.

Keywords: Post-stroke fatigue, cardiopulmonary function, Quality of Life, Stroke Survivors