Hospital Services for Stroke Care

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Stroke is a common cause of mortality and morbidity in Europe and a major consumer of healthcare costs. However, outcomes from stroke vary significantly across Europe, raising the issue of the extent to which the delivery of care varies across Europe. METHODS: A multicenter, multinational study collected data on hospital admission for stroke. These included patient baseline characteristics, clinical status, and use of inpatient services. RESULTS: Initial results examined inpatient services in nine hospitals in six countries. Statistically significant differences existed between hospitals in key processes of care, most notably in the areas of (1) mean length of stay (11 to 39 days) and median length of stay (8 to 21 days), (2) percentage of admissions receiving brain imaging (30% to 98%) and neurosurgery (0% to 31%), and (3) percentage of admissions with an identified "need" who received physiotherapy (44% to 90%) and occupational (0% to 65%) and speech (0% to 59%) therapy. Although there were significant hospital differences (P < .001) in the case mix of admissions in terms of level of consciousness, presence of incontinence, prestroke Rankin Scale score, and age, these did not explain the differences in care across sites. CONCLUSIONS: There is geographic inequity across Europe in the care a stroke patient can expect to receive. Ongoing analysis will examine the link between European variations in service use and outcomes, in terms of mortality, handicap, and functional ability, as a means of indicating which patterns of care are the most effective.