title: How do stroke patients fare when discharged straight to their homes? A controlled study on the significance of hospital follow-up after one month.
abstract: In our experience, stroke patients discharged straight to their homes sometimes showed marked deterioration. We investigated whether this negative course of events could be prevented by means of follow-up visits entailing extensive testing and resultant measures one month after discharge. The patients in our study included a selection of mild cases with a short length of hospital stay. Forty-six patients returned to the stroke unit on a follow-up visit, and 49 patients made up the control group. The groups were compared after 3 months, by means of questionnaires. The results did not show any definite difference between the groups. However, after 3 months we detected depressions in 13 patients in the study group and in 11 patients in the control group, most of them untreated. The study points to a need for follow-up aimed specifically at detecting depression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, St Göran Hospital and The Swedish Council on Assessment of Technology in Healthcare, Stockholm, Sweden. lotta.ytterberg@stgoran.se
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ytterberg
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anderson Malm
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Britton
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006699:Home Care Services; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires