THURSDAY, July 22, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- The stronger a stroke is, the more likely the victim will be sent to a rehabilitation or nursing home rather than back to his own home, new research says.
The study traced the release of 546 patients from three countries who had suffered severe strokes as measured by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale. All were treated with powerful clot-busting drugs.
About 44 percent of the patients were discharged to home, while 56 percent were sent to rehabilitation or a nursing facility, said the researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia.
Researchers concluded that stroke severity is the predominant way to predict where a stroke victim will be discharged. They also found their study reinforced the usefulness of the stroke scale in measuring stroke severity.
The study appears in the July issue of the Archives of Neurology.
More information
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about stroke.
