Effect of Diabetes on Post-stroke Recovery: A Systematic Narrative Review

Background: Patients with stroke often have comorbid diabetes. Considering its detrimental effects on brain function, diabetes may increase the risk of poor recovery. Methods: The aim of this review was to investigate the effect of diabetes on post-stroke recovery by a systematic review. Several specific aspects of post-stroke recovery, including activities of daily living (ADL), motor, cognitive, and quality of life (QOL) recovery, were examined. We searched the PubMed, SCOPUS, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases for relevant studies on the effect of diabetes on post-stroke recovery, published until May 26, 2021. A total of 52,051 potentially relevant articles were identified. After reading the titles and abstracts and assessing their eligibility based on full-text articles, 34 publications were included in this review. Results: Of 29 studies that assessed ADL recovery after stroke, 22 studies suggested that diabetes had a negative effect on recovery of ADL after stroke. Regarding motor recovery, only one out of four studies showed that diabetes had some effect on motor recovery after stroke. Of the two studies on cognitive recovery, one reported that diabetes was an independent predictor of poor cognitive recovery after stroke. Three studies on QOL reported that a poor QOL after stroke was associated with the presence of diabetes. Conclusions: The current review suggests that the post-stroke recovery of ADL seems to be poorer in patients with diabetes than patients without diabetes. Further, there are insufficient data to conclude the effect of diabetes on motor and cognitive recovery, but it may have some influence on the quality of life after stroke. Systematic Review Registration: doi: 10.37766/inplasy2021.11.0032, identifier: INPLASY2021110032.