Destinations of stroke patients discharged from the Montreal area acute-care hospitals.

The destinations of stroke patients after discharge from acute-care hospitals were studied to ascertain the current use of health care resources. The 1984-1985 acute-care hospital discharge listings for the province of Quebec were consulted to identify 3,045 adults of the Montreal area who were discharged, deceased or alive, with a primary or secondary diagnosis of stroke. The relation between the length of stay (i.e., the time to death or discharge to long-term care, rehabilitation, or home) and the explanatory variables (age, sex, neighborhood socioeconomic status, type of stroke, and university affiliation of the discharging hospital) was assessed using Cox's proportional hazards models. Older patients and those with hemorrhagic strokes had the highest risk of death. However, patients with hemorrhagic strokes were more likely to survive if admitted to a university teaching hospital. Older patients, those with nonhemorrhagic strokes, and those admitted to university teaching hospitals were more likely to be discharged to long-term care. A greater proportion of patients discharged to rehabilitation centers were young, lived in a high-socioeconomic-status neighborhood, and had suffered a nonhemorrhagic stroke. Patients had a significantly higher probability of going home if they were young, had had a nonhemorrhagic stroke, had been admitted to a university teaching hospital, or were male.