Supervised, individualised exercise reduces fatigue and improves strength and quality of life more than unsupervised home exercise in people with chronic Guillain-Barré syndrome: a randomised trial

Abstract

Question: In people in the chronic phase of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), how much more does a supervised, individualised exercise program improve functional independence with activities of daily living than a home-based exercise program? How do the two exercise programs compare regarding their effects on muscle strength, fatigue, pain and quality of life?

Design: Randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation, intention-to-treat analysis and blinding of outcome assessors.

Participants: Sixteen adults with stable residual disability ≥ 6 months after the onset of GBS.

Intervention: Participants in the experimental group were allocated to 60-minute sessions of physiotherapist-supervised strengthening, endurance and breathing exercises, gait training and pain management, two to three sessions/week for 12 weeks. The control group was prescribed a home program of 30-minute sessions of maintenance exercises and education in self-management, two to three sessions/week for 12 weeks.

Outcome measures: Functional independence in activities of daily living on the 100-point Barthel Index (primary outcome), muscle strength on the 60-point Medical Research Council scale, fatigue on the 0-to-63 Fatigue Severity Scale, a visual analogue scale of pain severity, and quality of life, measured at baseline and months 6 and 12.

Results: At month 6, the median between-group difference was 5 (95% CI 0 to 20) for functional independence, 8 (95% CI 4 to 18) for strength, -13 (95% CI -28 to -1) for fatigue, and 12 (95% CI 3 to 13) for the environment domain of quality of life. Estimated effects at month 12 had a similar magnitude, but most of the CIs had greater uncertainty.

Conclusion: Supervised, individualised exercise reduced fatigue and improved strength and quality of life more than unsupervised home exercise in people with chronic Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Registration: CTRI/2016/08/007150.

Keywords: Exercise rehabilitation; Fatigue, Barthel Index; Guillain-Barré syndrome; Physical therapy.