Outcomes appeared to be independent of patient age, sex, initial stroke severity, stroke type, and duration of follow‐up. Sensitivity analyses indicated that observed benefits remained when the analysis was restricted to securely randomised trials that used unequivocally blinded outcome assessment with a fixed period of follow‐up.

There was no indication that organised stroke unit care resulted in a longer hospital stay. Analysis of length of stay was complicated by variations in definition and measurement plus substantial statistical heterogeneity (I² = 85%). Evidence was of very low quality for subjective health status and was not available for patient satisfaction. We included 29 trials (5902 participants) that compared organised inpatient (stroke unit) care with an alternative service: 20 trials (4127 participants) compared organised (stroke unit) care with a general ward, six trials (982 participants) compared different forms of organised (stroke unit) care, and three trials (793 participants) incorporated more than one comparison.Ĭompared with the alternative service, organised inpatient (stroke unit) care was associated with improved outcomes at the end of scheduled follow‐up (median one year): poor outcome (odds ratio (OR) 0.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69 to 0.87 moderate‐quality evidence), death (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.88 moderate‐quality evidence), death or institutional care (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.85 moderate‐quality evidence), and death or dependency (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.66 to 0.85 moderate‐quality evidence).

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