Who Falls After a Stroke? Evidence From a Prospective Stroke Cohort.

BACKGROUND

Falls affect over 30% of stroke survivors within the first year, yet lesion-related mobility and gait impairments underlying fall risk remain poorly understood. This study aimed to identify lesion-derived functional networks associated with impaired mobility, gait, and fall risk in subacute stroke, and to determine whether disruption to these networks is associated with falls during the six-month follow-up.

METHODS

We analyzed data from 94 patients with disabling subacute ischemic stroke from the prospective Baptize cohort, an imaging sub-cohort of the multicenter PHYS-STROKE trial. Principal component (PC) analysis reduced seven mobility-related and four gait-related baseline variables into two composites: PC1-Mobility and PC1-Gait, explaining 56% and 82% of variance, respectively. PC1-Mobility indexed global disability, whereas PC1-Gait reflected spatiotemporal walking capacity. Lesion network mapping (LNM) identified functional networks associated with each domain. Patient-reported falls up to six months post-enrollment were the primary endpoint.

RESULTS

LNM revealed that the mobility-related network predominantly involved cortical regions, whereas the gait-related network was linked to subcortical and infratentorial connectivity. In binary multivariable logistic regression, network similarity scores were not associated with falls; only older age was significant (adjusted OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.02-1.16, p = 0.01). LNM of fall occurrence identified a cortical network with significant spatial overlap with the mobility-related network (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

This exploratory, hypothesis-generating study identified distinct functional networks for post-stroke mobility and gait impairment. Falls may be more closely linked to disruptions in cortical networks supporting voluntary motor control and whole-body coordination than to subcortical gait-modulating structures, potentially informing fall risk stratification and targeted prevention.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifiers: BAPTISe: NCT01954797, PHYS-STROKE: NCT01363856.