Abstract
BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation is vital for optimizing recovery following neurological injuries. However, much of what is done for the paediatric population relies heavily on the adult literature or is based on expert opinion. No previous attempt has been made to collate high-quality evidence pertaining to the subacute period. OBJECTIVES: To summarize and appraise the evidence from systematic reviews regarding the efficacy of inpatient neurorehabilitation interventions for paediatric patients in the 6 months immediately following neurological injury. METHOD: A systematic search was conducted of PubMed, Ovid Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, and Cochrane databases, as well as using Google Scholar. Selection required an appraisal of efficacy of an inpatient rehabilitation intervention delivered within 6 months of injury. RESULTS: 1,250 papers were found. Titles and abstracts were compared against the selection criteria, with 52 papers being selected for full-text review. None of these met the selection criteria. Exclusions were often due to setting and chronicity. CONCLUSIONS: This review reveals a critical lack of systematically reviewed evidence within the scope investigated. There is a pressing need for evaluation of current interventions. In the future, alternative approaches to identifying and appraising different forms of available evidence could be considered.