Long-Term Temporal Profile of Motor Recovery After Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Limited data is available to describe the temporal profile of long-term recovery over 1 year after the stroke in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

A registered multicentral cohort was conducted to consecutively include non-herniated supratentorial ICH patients from November 2013 to January 2023. Eligible patients received follow-ups at the time of 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and each year after the enrollments until death or the study termination. The outcome of motor recovery was assessed with the dichotomy of independent standing ability. Analyses were performed to investigate the associated factors, recovery rates, and temporal profile.

Of 1624 eligible responses, 105 (6.5%) regained motor recovery beyond 1 year after the stroke. The motor recovery course decreased with time and continued until 44 months, with 1-year and long-term cumulative recovery rates of 71.3% (95% CI: 69.0%-73.5%) and 80.2% (95% CI: 78.0%-82.5%), respectively. Moreover, the onset age, ICH location, larger ICH, and peripheral hematomal edema (PHE), intraventricular extension, GCS score, and admission hospital tier were independent factors on the motor outcome (all p < 0.05). However, the older age (aHR = 0.97/year, 95% CI: 0.95-0.98, p < 0.001) was identified as the only hazard factor for future recovery in patients who were incapable of recovery within 1 year.

The poststroke recovery was ongoing beyond 1 year until about 3 years after the onset, and those with delayed motor recovery accounted for about 10% of ultimately recovered patients.