Beschreibung:
<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p> Stroke survivors have less muscle mass in their paretic limbs compared with nonparetic limbs, which may or may not be accompanied by changes in regional and/or whole body fat mass. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Aim</jats:title><jats:p> To examine the current evidence regarding differences in regional fat mass between paretic and nonparetic limbs and changes in whole body fat mass over time in stroke survivors. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p> A systematic search of relevant databases. Studies measuring whole body or regional fat mass using dual-energy X-ray absorpiometry, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging were included. </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p> Eleven trials were identified. Fat mass differences between paretic and nonparetic limbs and change in fat mass over time were not consistent. Meta-analyses were conducted using dual-energy X-ray absorpiometry-derived data from 10 trials ( n = 324). There were no differences in fat mass between paretic and nonparetic legs (pooled mean difference 31.4 g, 95% confidence interval −33.9 to 96.6, P = 0.35), and slightly greater fat mass in the paretic arms compared with nonparetic arms (pooled mean difference 84.0 g, 95% confidence interval 30.7 to 137.3, P = 0.002). Whole body fat mass did not increase significantly between one-month and six-months poststroke (pooled mean difference 282.3 g, 95% confidence interval −824.4 to 1389, P = 0.62), but there was an increase between six- and 12 months poststroke (pooled mean difference 1935 g, 95% confidence interval 1031 to 2839, P < 0.001). </jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title><jats:p> There were inconsistent findings regarding changes in fat mass after stroke. Large, well-designed studies are required to further investigate the impact of body composition changes on the health of stroke survivors. </jats:p></jats:sec>