Discussion
poststroke, stroke, gain
STROKE
In this longitudinal and prospective cohort study, 2 distinct physical activity trajectories were identified. The increaser group increased their physical activity and sustained it at light intensity, while the decreaser group decreased their physical activity and became inactive. Male participants and those with normal cognition had a higher likelihood of increasing physical activity, regardless of stroke severity. We found an association between increased physical activity and a good functional outcome at 6 months after stroke.Overall, the study population had low physical activity levels, with approximately half of the participants being inactive. Among those who increased their physical activity, only a small number (We found that male participants had a higher likelihood of increasing physical activity over time, which was in line with previous research.The study findings suggest that preserved cognition after stroke is necessary to sustain or achieve a higher level of physical activity. This finding is also supported by previous studies.Unexpectedly, we found that stroke severity was not a significant factor of increased physical activity. This finding is encouraging, suggesting that patients with stroke can gain functional benefits by becoming more physically active regardless of stroke severity. Good functional recovery was also observed in the increaser group at different levels of stroke severity, despite the lack of significance. This finding may indicate that stroke severity and physical activity have isolated associations with functional recovery that are greater in magnitude than the sum of both associations. While it may be expected for patients with severe stroke to have poorer functional recovery despite their physical activity level, being physically active is still associated with a better outcome, regardless of stroke severity, supporting the health benefits of poststroke physical activity.The findings from this study indicate that increased physical activity of at least light intensity during the subacute phase after stroke was associated with a good functional outcome at 6 months, which is consistent with earlier findings in patients with mild or moderate stroke.