# SIESTA (Sleep of Inpatients: Empower Staff to Act) for Acute Stroke Rehabilitation - Resubmission 01

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2022 · $732,253

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, reducing everyday mobility and communication skills in
more than half of survivors. Acute rehabilitation through early interventions is a mainstay for recovery and
improving physical function in stroke patients. Unfortunately, patients recovering from acute stroke are at risk for
poor, non-restorative sleep, when sleep is critical for recovery and participation in intense physical rehabilitation.
During acute rehabilitation, stroke patients face two sleep-related challenges: (1) uncoordinated and often
unnecessary nocturnal interruptions (vitals, medications, etc.) due to medical or nursing care; and (2) a high risk
of undiagnosed sleep disordered breathing.
 Given the critical role of sleep in enhancing neural recovery, motor learning, neuroprotection, and
neuroplasticity, interventions to enhance sleep that target these two areas could improve recovery and
rehabilitation outcomes for stroke patients. In this proposal, a multidisciplinary group of researchers with
expertise in rehabilitation medicine, sleep medicine, nursing, physical therapy, wearable technologies, and
implementation science will adapt, implement and evaluate a state-of-the-art intervention to promote sleep for
stroke patients undergoing acute rehabilitation. SIESTA-Rehab, adapted from our previous unit-based
intervention, bundles two sleep-promoting interventions to address the unique sleep challenges stroke patients
face during acute rehabilitation: (1) nursing education and empowerment to reduce unnecessary disruptions; (2)
a systematic protocol to screen, diagnose, and treat sleep-disordered breathing if present during acute stroke
rehabilitation. This work will take place at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab (SRALab), the first-ever translational
research hospital that brings clinicians and researchers together to make breakthrough discoveries in
rehabilitation. Researchers at their Center for Bionic Medicine have pioneered the development and validation
of a high-resolution wearable sensor platform to monitor stroke recovery via continuous biometric and
movement-based sensor data for clinical symptoms (e.g., movement, sleep, heart rate variability, speech &
swallowing, and gait quality). These sensors have been tested during performance of validated clinical tests and
inpatient activities (e.g., therapy, down-time, sleeping).
 We aim to study the effectiveness of SIESTA-Rehab on improving sleep and rehabilitation outcomes during
acute rehabilitation for stroke and after discharge home. Because there are two stroke floors at SRALab and
patients are admitted in a quasi-random allocation, we can implement SIESTA-Rehab in one unit while the other
unit receives Usual Care (routine night nursing care and clinician judgment to order sleep study). This natural
experiment enables a difference-in-differences approach, controlling for relevant covariates, to compare short
and long-term sleep and rehabilitation outcomes b...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10322980
- **Project number:** 5R01HD097786-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Vineet Arora
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $732,253
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-01-22 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10322980

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10322980, SIESTA (Sleep of Inpatients: Empower Staff to Act) for Acute Stroke Rehabilitation - Resubmission 01 (5R01HD097786-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10322980. Licensed CC0.

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