BMJ  2005;331:491-492 (3 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.38537.679479.E0 (published 10 August 2005)

Paper

Ten year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial of care in a stroke rehabilitation unit

Avril E R Drummond, research occupational therapist1, Ben Pearson, consultant physician in emergency medicine2, Nadina B Lincoln, professor of clinical psychology3, Peter Berman, consultant stroke physician4

1 Division of Ageing and Rehabilitation, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, 2 Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, Derby DE1 2QY, 3 Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, University of Nottingham, Nottingham Science and Technology Park, Nottingham NG7 2RQ, 4 City Hospital, Nottingham NG5 1PB

Correspondence to: A E R Drummond Avril.Drummond@nottingham.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

Decreased mortality and reduced disability are well recognised short term benefits of care in a stroke unit.1 Early organised management improves survival up to five years after stroke.2 Only one study has examined the effects of care in a stroke unit for longer than five years,3 and it showed that treatment in a combined acute and rehabilitation stroke unit in Norway conferred benefit even 10 years after stroke. We aimed to examine whether the benefits of a non-acute stroke rehabilitation unit persist for 10 years after stroke. This study was a continuation of the five year follow-up by Lincoln and colleagues.2

Participants, methods, and results

We identified participants who had been randomly allocated to receive treatment in a non-acute stroke unit or on conventional wards (general medical wards or wards for the elderly) as part of an earlier trial.4 Ten years after that randomisation, we traced them on hospital and general practice databases. We . . . [Full text of this article]

Comment


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Five year follow up of a randomised controlled trial of a stroke rehabilitation unit
N B Lincoln, S Husbands, C Trescoli, A E R Drummond, J R F Gladman, and P Berman
BMJ 2000 320: 549. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Collaborative systematic review of the randomised trials of organised inpatient (stroke unit) care after stroke
BMJ 1997 314: 1151. [Abstract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Saka, O., Serra, V., Samyshkin, Y., McGuire, A., Wolfe, C. C.D.A. (2009). Cost-Effectiveness of Stroke Unit Care Followed by Early Supported Discharge. Stroke 40: 24-29 [Abstract] [Full text]  
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ