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(Stroke. 2008;39:2402.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cochrane Corner

Organized Inpatient (Stroke Unit) Care for Stroke

Lindsay Govan, BSc; Christopher J. Weir, PhD; Peter Langhorne, PhD for the Stroke Unit Trialists’ Collaboration

From the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics (L.G., C.J.W.), University of Glasgow, UK; and the Academic Section of Geriatric Medicine (P.L.), Glasgow Royal Infirmary, UK.

Correspondence to Peter Langhorne, PhD, Academic Section of Geriatric Medicine, 3rd Floor, University Block, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK G31 2ER. E-mail pl11m@clinmed.gla.ac.uk

Graeme J. Hankey MD, FRCP Section Editor:

Key Words: acute stroke • clinical trials • organized stroke care • stroke units • meta-analysis

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
Traditionally, the care of patients with stroke has been provided within general (internal) medicine or general neurology wards where they would be managed by nonspecialist staff alongside a range of other patient groups. Organized inpatient (stroke unit) care is a term used to describe the focusing of care for patients with stroke in the hospital under a multidisciplinary team who specialize in stroke management.

Objectives
This updated Cochrane Review tested whether improving the organization of inpatient stroke care can bring about improvements in survival and recovery of patients.

Search Strategy
We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Trials Register (to April 2006). To identify additional trials, we scanned reference lists of relevant articles, contacted colleagues and researchers, and publicized preliminary findings at stroke conferences. Contact trialists of all eligible studies were then approached and asked to provide details of their intervention and control services.

Selection Criteria
We included all prospective trials that used strictly random or quasirandom allocation of patients with stroke to an organized system of inpatient (stroke unit) care or an alternative form of inpatient care. This was usually the contemporary conventional care in general wards but could include some other model of organized inpatient care.

Outcomes
Primary analysis examined death, dependency (requiring assistance for transfers, mobility, dressing, feeding, or toileting) and the requirement for institutional care (residential home, nursing home, or hospital) at the end of scheduled follow-up (median 1 year poststroke). Secondary outcomes included patient quality of life; patient and caregiver satisfaction; and duration of stay in the hospital, institution, or both.

Main Results
We . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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