Problems after post-stroke hosp. discharge

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say within one year of being discharged after a stroke, two-thirds of Medicare patients died or were re-hospitalized.

The researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, found the rates varied widely by area and suggested this could be an indication improvements in quality-of-care could make a difference.

The study, published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association, finds within the first year after hospital discharge for stroke 26.7 percent of Medicare patients died and 56.2 percent were re-admitted to the hospital.

"We need to better understand the patterns and causes of mortality and readmission after acute stroke to help avoid the hospitalizations and deaths that are preventable," first author Dr. Gregg Fonarow says in a statement. "The findings show that ischemic stroke -- obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain -- patients may be at substantial risk once leaving the hospital."

Fonarow and colleagues analyzed data on outcomes for more than 90,000 Medicare patients admitted for an acute ischemic stroke to 625 hospitals. The average age was 79. All had fee-for-service Medicare insurance -- 58 percent were female and 82 percent were white.