Introduction
Stroke, stroke, Upper limb impairment, chronic ischemic stroke, upper limb impairment, infarction, adult disability, upper limb motor deficits
STROKE, STROKE, INFARCTION
Stroke is a leading cause of adult disability. Upper limb impairment and inability to effectively use the arm and hand for functional daily tasks are common and persists in approximately half of people who have upper limb impairment at onset.The use of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) paired with rehabilitation to improve moderate to severe upper limb motor deficits associated with chronic ischemic stroke was recently approved the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. VNS augments task specific neuroplasticity by providing rapid cholinergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic modulation.Here we perform a post-hoc subgroup analysis of data from the VNS-REHAB trial. We identified variables of interest based on known predictors of upper limb outcome. We examined whether the effect of paired VNS treatment differs by reported sex, age, time from stroke, severity of upper limb impairment, country of enrollment, paretic side, and whether there was cortical involvement of the index infarction.