Background and Purpose--Significant intercenter variability in quality of care and stroke outcomes was found in many countries. The aim of the study was to compare the acute ischemic stroke care and outcomes in centers participating in the Polish National Stroke Prevention and Treatment Registry.

Methods--The World Health Organization Stepwise Approach to Stroke Surveillance-based questionnaire was used to collect data on patients admitted to participating centers between December 1, 2001, and July 31, 2002. To ensure data quality, only centers reporting representative sample of patients were analyzed. Ischemic stroke patient characteristics, in-hospital care, and early outcomes (adjusted for case mix) were compared for participating centers.

Results--There were 26 of 48 centers that met inclusion criteria, with a total of 8736 patients (52% women; mean age 71 years, with a range among institutions from 68 to 75 years). Significant differences between centers were observed for distribution of risk factors and in-hospital care. The rates for death and poor outcome (defined as a Rankin score 3 or death) ranged from 8.0% to 31.8% and from 44.2% to 74.7%, respectively. After adjusting for case mix, the death or poor outcome prognoses remained significantly different between centers.

Conclusions--The observed significant differences between Polish stroke centers indicate the need for improvement of patient education, effective stroke risk factor control, and standardized in-hospital care.