High-Volume Hospitals Best for Stroke Patients

Patients who have a stroke caused by a burst blood vessel are more likely to survive if admitted to a hospital that treats a high volume of patients with this kind of stroke, according to a study published in the July 2002 issue of Stroke.

Investigators reviewed data on 12,804 patients (62% female, average age 52) admitted to 390 hospital emergency departments for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). They found that in hospitals in the lowest quartile (0-8 cases a year), mortality was 49%, while in hospitals in the highest quartile (19-70 cases), mortality was 32%. The correlation between mortality and treatment volume persisted even when the researchers examined multiple variables that might contribute. Another finding was that only 4.8% of patients at the lowest-volume hospitals were referred to higher-volume centers for care.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. They say policies that encourage patient transfer to higher-volume hospitals could have a major impact in reducing mortality from SAH, although such policies may not be cost effective.



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University of California, San Francisco