OBJECTIVE: To investigate effects of different intervention time points of early rehabilitation on patients with acute ischemic stroke. METHODS: We enrolled patients diagnosed with acute ischemic stroke in our hospital's rehabilitation ward from November 2013 to December 2015. Patients were randomly assigned to an ultraearly rehabilitation program (started within 72 hours of onset) or an early rehabilitation program (started from 72 hours to 7 days after onset). The efficacy was assessed by the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) International, Barthel Index, and Fugl-Meyer Assessment at one and three months after rehabilitation. Data were analyzed by variance analysis of two-factor repeated measurement. Covariance analysis was used to adjust confounding factors for the determination of statistical differences. RESULTS: 41 patients were enrolled in the ultraearly rehabilitation group, while 45 patients were in the early rehabilitation group. There were no differences between the two groups at baseline data. Compared with the early rehabilitation group, patients in the ultraearly rehabilitation group have significantly improved NIHSS score, BMI score, and FMA score at one month and three months (p < 0.001). After adjusting for confounding factors (gender, age, severity of NIHSS score, location of stroke, hypertension, diabetes, atrial fibrillation, and coronary heart disease), the significant difference still existed between the two groups at one month and three months (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study indicated a higher efficacy in the ultraearly rehabilitation group than the early rehabilitation group. The result suggests an important practical significance in favor of the clinical treatment of stroke.

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