Kinesiophobia in Elderly Polish Patients After Ischemic Stroke, Including Frailty Syndrome

Ewelina Bąk; Agnieszka Młynarska; Czesław Marcisz; Monika Kadłubowska; Ewa Marcisz-Dyla; Danuta Sternal; Rafał Młynarski; Sylwia Krzemińska

doi:10.2147/NDT.S352151

Kinesiophobia in Elderly Polish Patients After Ischemic Stroke, Including Frailty Syndrome

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2022 Mar 31:18:707-715. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S352151. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ewelina Bąk¹, Agnieszka Młynarska², Czesław Marcisz², Monika Kadłubowska¹, Ewa Marcisz-Dyla³, Danuta Sternal¹, Rafał Młynarski⁴, Sylwia Krzemińska⁵

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bielsko-Biala, Bielsko-Biala, Poland.
² Department of Gerontology and Geriatric Nursing, School of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
³ Faculty of Management, Psychology, Katowice Business University, Katowice, Poland.
⁴ Department of Electrocardiology and Heart Failure, School of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland.
⁵ Department of Clinical Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland.

Abstract

Introduction: In patients after stroke, the relationship between the occurrence of kinesiophobia and the accompanying frailty syndrome, as well as the acceptance of the disease and the level of mood, has not been recognized so far. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of kinesiophobia in elderly Polish people after ischemic stroke, including the frailty syndrome and the associations between the prevalence of kinesiophobia and feelings of anxiety and degree of the illness acceptance.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was used to achieve the study objectives. The study involved 152 hospitalized patients aged of minimum 60 (mean age 63), qualified for post-stroke rehabilitation, including 76 women and 76 men. The patients were divided into two groups, with kinesiophobia (119 persons) and without kinesiophobia (33 persons). The Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK), the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and the Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) were used. Study results were calculated using MedCalc Software.

Results: Kinesiophobia has been demonstrated in 78% of people after ischemic stroke. The values of TFI and HADS were higher in the patients with kinesiophobia (p<0.001). In patients with ischemic stroke, it was shown that the level of kinesiophobia increased with higher anxiety (p<0.001), higher total TFI score, (p<0.05), and a lower level of illness acceptance (p<0.001).

Conclusion: The occurrence of kinesiophobia in elderly Polish people after ischemic stroke is common and the determinants of its development are the coexistence of the frailty syndrome, anxiety and a low level of illness acceptance. In post-stroke patients, the presence of kinesiophobia should be considered, especially in the situation of comorbid frailty syndrome. The issue of kinesiophobia in patients after stroke requires further in-depth research, especially in the field of cognitive-behavioral prevention aimed at ways to reduce this phenomenon.

Keywords: elderly patients; frailty syndrome; ischemic stroke; kinesiophobia.