ArticleBMJ open2019
Does service heterogeneity have an impact on acute hospital length of stay in stroke? A UK-based multicentre prospective cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Machine Learning Methods to Predict the Length of Stay for Acute Stroke: A Scoping Review and Meta-Analysis.Health care science · 2026Review
- Predictors and outcomes associated with prolonged hospital length of stay in intracerebral hemorrhage: a multicenter prospective cohort study in China.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Prolonged Hospital Length of Stay Does Not Improve Functional Outcome in Acute Ischemic Stroke.Neurology and therapy · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the functional outcome and mobility of patients after stroke depending on their cognitive state.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Embracing Heterogeneity in The Multicenter Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN) Trial.Stroke · 2023Review
- Risk factor identification and prediction models for prolonged length of stay in hospital after acute ischemic stroke using artificial neural networks.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Article
- Geriatric assessment and rehabilitation in older stroke patients.EClinicalMedicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo determine whether stroke patients' acute hospital length of stay (AHLOS) varies between hospitals, over and above case mix differences and to investigate the hospital-level explanatory factors.
designA multicentre prospective cohort study.
settingEight National Health Service acute hospital trusts within the Anglia Stroke & Heart Clinical Network in the East of England, UK.
participantsThe study sample was systematically selected to include all consecutive patients admitted within a month to any of the eight hospitals, diagnosed with stroke by an accredited stroke physician every third month between October 2009 and September 2011. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: AHLOS was defined as the number of days between date of hospital admission and discharge or death, whichever came first. We used a multiple linear regression model to investigate the association between hospital (as a fixed-effect) and AHLOS, adjusting for several important patient covariates, such as age, sex, stroke type, modified Rankin Scale score (mRS), comorbidities and inpatient complications. Exploratory data analysis was used to examine the hospital-level characteristics which may contribute to variance between hospitals. These included hospital type, stroke monthly case volume, service provisions (ie, onsite rehabilitation) and staffing levels.
resultsA total of 2233 stroke admissions (52% female, median age (IQR) 79 (70 to 86) years, 83% ischaemic stroke) were included. The overall median AHLOS (IQR) was 9 (4 to 21) days. After adjusting for patient covariates, AHLOS still differed significantly between hospitals (p<0.001). Furthermore, hospitals with the longest adjusted AHLOS's had predominantly smaller stroke volumes.
conclusionsWe have clearly demonstrated that AHLOS varies between different hospitals, and that the most important patient-level explanatory variables are discharge mRS, dementia and inpatient complications. We highlight the potential importance of stroke volume in influencing these differences but cannot discount the potential effect of unmeasured confounders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.