Cognition in stroke rehabilitation and recovery research: Consensus-based core recommendations from the second Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable with Dr Michael O'Sullivan

In 2015 discussions began among key researchers in the field of stroke rehabilitation and recovery.  This resulted in the Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable who met in Philadelphia, in the USA and resulted in the publication of 6 papers in the International Journal of Stroke and the Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair journals. We are now on the second round table and things are heating up significantly in the rehabilitation and recovery space. The second published SRRR series incorporates themes of cognitive impairment, knowledge translation, an exemplar of a next generation of stroke recovery treatment trials, kinematic and kinetic movement quantification. 

Cognitive impairment is an important target for rehabilitation as it is common following stroke, is associated with reduced quality of life and interferes with motor and other types of recovery interventions. Cognitive function following stroke was identified as an important, but relatively neglected area during the first Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation Roundtable leading to a Cognition Working Group being convened as part of SRRR II. There is currently insufficient evidence to build consensus on specific approaches to cognitive rehabilitation. However, this group presents recommendations on the integration of cognitive assessments into stroke recovery studies generally and define priorities for ongoing and future research for stroke recovery and rehabilitation. A number of promising interventions are ready to be taken forward to trials to tackle the gap in evidence for cognitive rehabilitation. However, to accelerate progress requires that researchers coordinate efforts to tackle multiple gaps along the whole translational pathway. 

Carmen Lahiff-Jenkins Managing Editor of the International Journal of Stroke spoke to Dr Michael O’Sullivan from the Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia. 

The International Journal of Stroke is the flagship publication of the World Stroke Organization. Please do consider becoming a member and help us to fight the global burden of stroke! Click this link to visit our membership page

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