FRIDAY, July 12, 2002 (HealthDayNews) --
If you suffer a stroke caused by a burst blood vessel, you're more likely to survive if you're taken to a hospital that has plenty of experience dealing with that type of medical emergency.
Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) searched admission and discharge records for people who suffered subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) between 1990 and 1999 in all non-federal hospitals in California.
SAH refers to a burst blood vessel within the vessels and capillaries that surround your brain's exterior surface. It can cause brain damage, coma and death.
The researchers collected data on 12,804 patients -- 62 percent female, average age 52 -- with SAH who were admitted to 390 hospital emergency departments. They found the death rate was 49 percent in hospitals that treated the fewest SAH cases, less than eight a year, compared to a 32 percent death rate in hospitals with 19 to 70 cases per year.
The study appears in the July issue of Stroke.
The researchers conclude that SAH death rates could be reduced through policies that encourage the transfer of SAH patients to hospitals that handle a high volume of such cases.
More information
For a complete primer on the warning signs and prevention of stroke, visit the
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
