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“Stroke center” designation is becoming increasingly common in select U.S. hospitals. Studies have shown that these centers improve patient outcomes, but most studies have been small and conducted at a single center. Researchers performed an observational follow-up study of 11,572 patients with acute stroke admitted to one of 260 Italian hospitals within 48 hours of symptom onset (4936 to a stroke unit and 6636 to a conventional ward).
Overall, 1576 patients died in the hospital, 2169 died during follow-up, and 347 were lost to follow-up. The authors used a modified Rankin scale, from grade 0 (no symptoms) to grade 5 (bedridden, incontinent, and requiring constant nursing care), to assess disability. At 2-year follow-up, patients admitted to…