Occupational therapy improves functional recovery and reduces delirium in critically ill adults with and without stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Shuting Hua, Kunpeng Qiu, Shumin Zeng, Hui Wang, Tong Liu · 2026
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Description
Survivors of intensive care often leave with weak bodies, foggy minds, and a long recovery, a bundle called post-intensive care syndrome. Five authors pooled the randomized trials of occupational therapy given inside the ICU, for adults with and without stroke, in a 2025 meta-analysis. They measured daily-living ability, delirium, grip strength, and time on a ventilator.
Therapy improved daily-living performance clearly and cut delirium by more than half. Grip strength rose, and patients came off ventilators sooner. In the stroke subgroup, the gains in daily-living ability and delirium prevention were at least as strong. The authors grade the evidence low to moderate, noting few trials, some bias risk, and mixed results across studies. They call occupational therapy promising, and ask for stronger trials to settle how best to deliver it.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Shuting Hua, Kunpeng Qiu, Shumin Zeng, Hui Wang, Tong Liu |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 47 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |