Background and Purpose: For stroke patients, previous evidence favors a higher dose of rehabilitation due to the greater clinical improvement following the higher-dose rehabilitation as compared to a lower-dose. However, the impact of the dose of stroke rehabilitation on subsequent readmission/mortality risks has not been studied extensively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between the dosage of rehabilitation and the risk of outcome events (OEs) after stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA).
Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance database. Information about patients with first-ever acute stroke or TIA was collected with the follow-up duration of 32 months. The occurrence of 3 OEs: 1) vascular readmissions/all-cause mortality (VE), 2) all-cause readmissions/mortality (OE1), and 3) all-cause mortality (OE2), in Model 1: none, low-dose, and high-dose rehabilitation; and Model 2: none, inpatient plus/or outpatient rehabilitation.
Results: Comparing to patients without rehabilitation, in Model 1, patients receiving low-dose rehabilitation had a lower risk of VE (Hazard Ratio(HR) 0.77; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.68 to 0.87) and OE1 (HR 0.77; 0.71-0.84), but not OE2 (HR 0.91; 0.77-1.07). Patients receiving high-dose rehabilitation had lower risks of all VE (HR 0.68; 0.58-0.79), OE1 (HR 0.79; 0.71- 0.88), and OE2 (HR 0.56; 0.44-0.71). In Model 2, patients receiving inpatient plus outpatient rehabilitation had a lowest risk of VE (HR 0.55; 0.47-0.65), OE1 (HR 0.65; 0.58-0.72), and OE2 (HR 0.45; 0.35-0.59). Sensitivity analysis with TIA excluded rendered the similar trend. 
Conclusion: Rehabilitation was associated with the reduction of readmissions/mortality in patients with stroke or TIA.

REHABILITATION REDUCED READMISSION AND MORTALITY RISKS IN PATIENTS WITH STROKE OR TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC ATTACK: A POPULATION-BASED STUDY