Scoping review of common secondary conditions after stroke and their associations with age and time post stroke.

Background: Health care providers need to be alert to secondary conditions that might develop after stroke so that these conditions can be prevented or treated early to reduce further deterioration of health and quality of life.
Objectives: To review and describe the prevalence of secondary conditions after stroke and to summarize associations between secondary conditions and age and time post stroke.
Methods: A scoping review of studies pertaining to secondary conditions after stroke published between 1986 and 2011 was conducted.
Results: Seventy-six articles provided information regarding 6 secondary conditions: depression, pain, falls, fatigue, bowel/bladder problems, and sleep difficulties. Prevalence varied widely across studies for each condition. The limited repeated-measures evidence suggests that secondary conditions tend to occur in the first weeks or months post stroke and may remain relatively stable over time. Other evidence from regression analyses suggests either no significant associations between time post stroke or age or mixed results. Secondary conditions appear to be most commonly associated with severity of impairments.
Conclusions: Health care providers need to be alert to the development of secondary conditions after stroke in individuals as they age as well as in the poststroke time span. Obtaining a clear understanding of the prevalence of secondary conditions and associations with age and time post stroke is difficult because of variations in research methodologies. Future research is needed to define secondary condition prevalence and risk factors more clearly and to identify interventions that could reduce the prevalence and impact of these conditions on quality of life.