Effectiveness and Safety of ABAStroke in Cognitive Rehabilitation for Post-stroke Patients: A Randomized Controlled Study
Pawel Wrona1, Bartlomiej Piechowski-Jozwiak2, Tomasz Homa3, Ewa Wlodarczyk3, Paulina Sarba4, Agnieszka Slowik1
1Department of Neurology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 2Department of Neurology, The Australian National University, 3Department of Neurology, University Hospital in Krakow, 4University Hospital in Krakow
Objective:
To assess the effectiveness and safety of ABAStroke in cognitive rehabilitation for post-stroke patients, as measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), compared to standard therapy.
Background:
ABAStroke is an AI-based mobile app designed for home rehabilitation of cognitive deficits in post-stroke patients. The app uses Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) principles to target attention, memory, executive functions, visuospatial perception, and thinking.
Design/Methods:
This randomized controlled trial included 76 adult patients (18–75 years) who had experienced ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke within the last 6 months and had MoCA scores between 14 and 26. The study group (n=38) used ABAStroke in addition to standard therapy, while the control group (n=38) received only standard care. Patients were followed for up to 104 days. Statistical tests, including Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Mann-Whitney, were used to assess outcomes. Outliers were identified and excluded.
Results:
A total of 74 patients completed the study. Four patients from the study group did not complete the required ABAStroke sessions and were excluded from the analysis. After outlier removal, 32 patients in the study group and 34 in the control group were analyzed. The study group showed significant improvement in MoCA scores compared to the control group (mean difference: 1.6875, p=0.001276). No serious adverse events were reported.
Conclusions:
ABAStroke demonstrated over 84% effectiveness in cognitive rehabilitation, surpassing traditional methods (60-80% reported in the literature). These results suggest that ABAStroke is an effective digital therapeutic tool with the potential to complement or replace traditional rehabilitation approaches. Further studies should explore long-term effects and cost-effectiveness.
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