Objectives: The main symptom of stroke is upper limb function deficit. Robotic intervention has been applied to treat the paretic upper limb. Through this meta-analysis, we investigated the effect of robotic intervention on upper limb function recovery of individuals with stroke. Methods: The analyzed studies were identified through electronic search engines such as PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE for the last 5 years. The PEDro scale was used to rate the methodological quality of included studies.

more »

... -analysis is performed to analyze the sample size, means, and standard deviations in selected studies. Results: Ten randomized controlled trails were included for meta-analysis. PEDro scale was more than 6 points in all studies. Three hundred twenty subjects participated in included studies. In order to statistically analyze the effect size of the robotic interventions, the outcomes of studies were classified into upper limb function (ULF) and activities of daily living (ADL). In consideration of heterogeneity of effect size, we used random effect model. Metaanalysis of 10 trials showed "small effect size". The effect size of ULF was 0.288 and the effect size of ADL was 0.265. Conclusions: Robotic intervention was not more effective than other dose-matching conventional therapies. Therefore, it is necessary to select appropriate individual interventions reflect characteristics of the individuals with stroke and robotic interventions may be used as a complementary methods to conventional therapy. How to cite this article: Kwon JS. The effect of robotic intervention on upper limb function in individuals with stroke: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Health Info Stat 2018;43(1):46-53. Doi: https://doi.