Comparative Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Nursing Interventions in Patients With Post-Stroke Dysphagia: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

Aim

To compare the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions integrated into nursing care on swallowing function and safety in patients with post-stroke dysphagia.

Methods

We searched Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, ProQuest, CINAHL, PubMed, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating rehabilitation nursing interventions for patients with post-stroke dysphagia, from database inception to September 2025. The primary outcomes were the Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS) and the Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS), while secondary outcomes included the Videofluoroscopic Dysphagia Scale (VDS) and the Swallowing Quality of Life Scale (SWAL-QOL).

Results

Seventeen RCTs were included. Rehabilitation nursing interventions were more effective than conventional care in improving FOIS, PAS, and VDS. For FOIS, kinesiology taping (KT) combined with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) (surface under the cumulative ranking curve [SUCRA] = 78.7%, mean rank = 2.7) and respiratory muscle training (RMT) (SUCRA = 78.1%, mean rank = 2.9) ranked highest. For PAS, KT combined with NMES (SUCRA = 95.9%, mean rank = 1.3) and KT (SUCRA = 84.1%, mean rank = 2.1) ranked highest.

Conclusions

Rehabilitation nursing interventions may improve swallowing function and safety in patients with post-stroke dysphagia. RMT, KT, and KT + NMES showed potential benefits for different aspects of swallowing recovery. However, the superiority of KT + NMES requires confirmation in high-quality multicenter RCTs with head-to-head comparisons and long-term follow-up. TRIAL REGISTRATION PROSPERO ID: CRD420251155222.