Lightning Oral Presentation Australian and New Zealand Stroke Organisation Conference 2026

Characterising usual care for early mobility training in intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH). Insights from the AVERT trial. (139399)

Emily R Ramage 1 , Asalet Aybuke Gup Aybuke Gup 1 , Julie Bernhardt 1 , Fiona Ellery 1 , vincent Thijs 1 , Hannah Johns 2 , On behalf of the PEMTeam* and the EMERGE ICH** collaborations 3
  1. Florey Institute, Heidelberg, AUSTRALIA, Australia
  2. University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
  3. PEMTeam, EMERGE ICH

Background: Stroke guidelines tend to recommend mobilisation within 48 hours of stroke. The optimal early mobility training after intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) remains unknown. AVERT suggested lower dose usual care (UC) was better than early, more intensive mobility training. We aimed to characterise UC ICH early mobility training in AVERT.

Method: Post hoc analysis of the ICH UC subgroup of AVERT, an international randomised trial (n=2104). Participants were >18 years, hospitalised <24hr post-stroke, previously independent and met medical stability criteria.  For UC mild/moderate/severe ICH participants that mobilised <48hr we describe frequency of nursing (NS) and physiotherapy (PT) sessions, and duration (median average min/24hr) of all physiotherapy (nursing duration not collected) across the 0-24hr and 24-48hr periods.

Results: In the ICH UC group (n=116) 45(39%) participants were female, median age 71yr and 101(87%) mobilised <48hr. Of the 48(94%) mild ICH participants mobilised <48hr, 33(69%) mobilised <24hr (NS=1, PT=1, 10min/24hr), 45 (93%) mobilised 24-48hr (NS=3, PT=1, 17min/24hr). Of the 42(82%) moderate ICH participants mobilised <48hr, 20(48%) mobilised <24 hours (NS=1, PT=1, 15min/24hr), 34 (81%) mobilised 24-48hours after stroke (NS=2, PT=1, 20min/24hr). Of the 11(79%) severe ICH participants mobilised <48hr, 4(36%) mobilised within 24 hours (NS=0, PT=1, 13min/24hr), 9(82%) mobilised at 24-48hours (NS=0, PT=1, 13min/24hr).

Conclusion: Most UC ICH participants in AVERT mobilised <48hr after stroke. Early mobility training varied by stroke severity: a higher proportion of participants with milder ICH completing earlier, more frequent mobility training. Median average physiotherapy duration ranged from 10-20min/24hr.  These data may help inform future ICH mobility trials.