title: A systematic review of the rehabilitation of moderate to severe acquired brain injuries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To conduct a systematic review of the rehabilitation literature of moderate to severe acquired brain injuries (ABI) from traumatic and non-traumatic causes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A review of the literature was conducted for studies looking at interventions in ABI rehabilitation. The methodological quality of each study was determined using the Downs and Black scale for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs as well as the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale for RCTs only.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Almost 14 000 references were screened from which 1312 abstracts were selected. A total of 303 articles were chosen for careful review of which 275 were found to be interventional studies but only 76 of these interventional studies were RCTs. From this, 5 levels of evidence were determined with 177 conclusions drawn; however of the 177 conclusions only 7 were supported by two or more RCTs and 41 were supported by one RCT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only 28% of the interventional studies were RCTs. Over half of the 275 interventional studies were single group interventions, pointing to the need for studies of improved methodological quality into ABI rehabilitation.
authors.affiliation: St. Joseph's Health Care London, Ottawa Rehabilitation Centre, Canada. robert.teasell@sjhc.london.on.ca
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Teasell
authors.forename: Nestor
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bayona
authors.forename: Shawn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cullen
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bayley
authors.forename: Josie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chundamala
authors.forename: Jimmy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Villamere
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mackie
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rees
authors.forename: Cheryl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hartridge
authors.forename: Corbin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lippert
authors.forename: Maureen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hilditch
authors.forename: Penny
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Welch-West
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weiser
authors.forename: Connie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.forename: Pat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McCabe
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.forename: Jo-Anne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Aubut
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Comper
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Salter
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Van Reekum
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Norine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Foley
authors.forename: Jozef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jutai
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Speechley
authors.forename: Chelsea
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hellings
authors.forename: Linh
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tu
mesh_terms: D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results