SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF RECOVERY-PROMOTING DRUGS FOR MOTOR FUNCTION AFTER STROKE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of drug interventions to promote motor recovery post-stroke. DATA SOURCES: CENTRAL, CINAHL, Embase, MEDLINE, SCOPUS and Web of Science. STUDY SELECTION: Published human randomized controlled trials in which the primary intervention was a drug administered to promote motor recovery post-stroke, vs placebo. DATA EXTRACTION: Standardized pro forma used to extract safety and efficacy data; Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias assessment tool performed to assess risk of bias. DATA SYNTHESIS: Fifty randomized controlled trials from 4,779 citations were included. An overall trend of high risk of attrition (n = 27) and reporting bias (n = 36) was obse..