Ricauda 2004.
| Study characteristics | ||
| Methods | Parallel randomised trial Participants recruited from January 1997 to February 1998. |
|
| Participants | Setting: Italy Patients recovering from a stroke Eligibility criteria: patients admitted to hospital within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms and evaluated for at least 24 hours Age (IQR): 76 to 88, median 82 Number recruited: hospital at home: 60; hospital: 60 |
|
| Interventions | Hospital outreach admission avoidance. 24‐hour care available from a multidisciplinary team: physiotherapist, occupational therapist, nursing, hospital geriatrician, social worker, speech therapist, psychologist |
|
| Outcomes | Length of treatment, mortality, activities of daily living, functional impairment, depression, costs | |
| Notes | Follow‐up: 6 months External funding not reported. Conflicts of interest: not reported Ethical approval: obtained from the San Giovanni Battista Hospital ethics committee |
|
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Low risk | Block randomisation |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Not described |
| Baseline outcome measurements (selection bias) | Low risk | Baseline outcome measurements done prior to intervention for activities of daily living, functional impairment, and depression; no relevant differences found |
| Baseline characteristics (selection bias) | Low risk | Baseline characteristics of the study and control groups are reported and are similar |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Blinding of participants and personnel not possible |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) Subjective outcomes | Low risk | Outcomes assessor blinded to the study allocation, and used validated measures of outcome |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) Objective outcomes | Low risk | Outcomes assessor blinded to the study allocation |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Withdrawals not reported |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Unclear risk | Insufficient information to allocate low or high risk |