Does the organization of postacute stroke care really matter?
OBJECTIVE
Postacute rehabilitation stroke services represent a large component of stroke care. In the United States and elsewhere, major changes in the organization and funding of these services are limiting patient access to organized inpatient multidisciplinary care. We conducted a systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness of such services.


RESULTS
We defined our intervention as organized inpatient multidisciplinary rehabilitation commencing at least 1 week after stroke and sought randomized trials that compared this model of care with an alternative. The analysis was stratified by the particular service characteristics. We identified a heterogeneous group of 9 trials (6 of stroke rehabilitation units; 3 of general rehabilitation wards) recruiting 1437 patients. Organized inpatient multidisciplinary rehabilitation was associated with a reduced odds of death (odds ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.49 to 0.88; P:<0.01), death or institutionalization (odds ratio, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.56 to 0.88; P:<0.001), and death or dependency (odds ratio, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.50 to 0.85; P:<0.001), which was consistent across a variety of trial subgroups. For every 100 patients receiving organized inpatient multidisciplinary rehabilitation, an extra 5 returned home in an independent state.


CONCLUSIONS
The results indicate that there can be substantial benefit from organized inpatient multidisciplinary rehabilitation in the postacute period, which is both statistically significant and clinically important.
Langhorne
P
P
Academic Section of Geriatric Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK. P.Langhorne@clinmed.gla.ac.uk
Duncan
P
P
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010814:Physical Therapy Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012946:Social Welfare; D020521:Stroke / Q000401:mortality; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation