The pattern of management after stroke.

A large population-based study of stroke is used to describe the pattern of management and the relative contribution of hospital care and community care in the year following an acute stroke episode. Two thirds of the 680 patients registered in the study were admitted to a public hospital during the acute stage of their illness, while almost one quarter of all patients were managed entirely at home. One month after the initial episode the majority of patients admitted to hospital had either died or had been discharged. Overall, four-fifths of the care during the first year after the onset of the stroke took place out of hospital, either at home or in private long-term institutions.