Table 2 Clinical management before, during, and after acute ischaemic stroke, by country.
| Variable | Country | Total | p Value | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | Canada | Denmark | Finland | France | Germany | Ireland | Netherlands | Norway | Sweden | UK | ||||||||||||||||
| No of subjects | 40 | 388 | 110 | 27 | 191 | 36 | 61 | 143 | 82 | 123 | 283 | 1484 | ||||||||||||||
| Pre‐stroke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Antiplatelet (%) | 2 (5.0) | 1 (0.3) | 0 (0) | 2 (7.4) | 1 (0.5) | 2 (5.6) | 0 (0) | 8 (5.6) | 0 (0) | 5 (4.1) | 3 (1.1) | 24 (1.6) | <0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| Anticoagulation (%) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.3) | 2 (1.8) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.8) | 0 (0) | 4 (0.3) | 0.28 | |||||||||||||
| Antithrombotic (%) | 2 (5.0) | 2 (0.5) | 2 (1.8) | 2 (7.4) | 1 (0.5) | 2 (5.6) | 0 (0) | 8 (5.6) | 0 (0) | 6 (4.9) | 3 (1.1) | 28 (1.9) | 0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| Antihypertensive (%) | 28 (70) | 186 (47.9) | 45 (40.9) | 12 (44.4) | 97 (50.8) | 17 (47.2) | 31 (50.8) | 70 (48.9) | 35 (42.7) | 63 (51.2) | 98 (34.6) | 682 (46.0) | 0.0008 | |||||||||||||
| Lipid lowering (%) | 9 (22.5) | 32 (8.3) | 1 (0.9) | 0 (0) | 20 (10.5) | 1 (2.8) | 2 (3.3) | 18 (12.6) | 2 (2.4) | 8 (6.5) | 7 (2.5) | 100 (6.7) | <0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| In hospital | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ASU (%) | 5 (12.5) | 60 (15.5) | 42 (38.2) | 4 (14.8) | 45 (23.6) | 13 (36.1) | 1 (1.6) | 68 (47.8) | 53 (64.6) | 56 (45.5) | 225 (79.5) | 572 (38.5) | <0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| SRU (%) | 16 (40.0) | 84 (21.6) | 63 (57.3) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.5) | 24 (66.7) | 3 (4.9) | 96 (67.1) | 32 (39.0) | 55 (44.7) | 80 (28.3) | 454 (30.6) | <0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| Stroke unit (%) | 17 (42.5) | 141 (36.3) | 90 (81.8) | 4 (14.8) | 45 (23.6) | 29 (80.6) | 4 (6.6) | 113 (79.0) | 82 (100) | 96 (78.0) | 234 (82.7) | 855 (57.6) | <0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| Compression stockings (%) | 35 (87.5) | 149 (38.4) | 15 (13.6) | 6 (22.2) | 118 (61.8) | 29 (80.6) | 41 (67.2) | 135 (94.4) | 13 (15.9) | 16 (13.0) | 246 (86.9) | 803 (54.1) | <0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| Physiotherapy (%) | 34 (85.0) | 326 (84.0) | 98 (89.1) | 23 (85.2) | 168 (88.0) | 34 (94.4) | 52 (85.2) | 127 (88.8) | 78 (95.1) | 102 (82.9) | 249 (88.0) | 1291 (87.0) | 0.0009 | |||||||||||||
| Speech therapy (%) | 17 (42.5) | 171 (44.1) | 28 (25.5) | 9 (33.3) | 32 (16.8) | 19 (52.8) | 38 (62.3) | 50 (35.0) | 18 (22.0) | 17 (13.8) | 138 (48.8) | 537 (36.2) | <0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| Post‐stroke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Antiplatelet* (%) | 16 (57.1) | 207 (64.7) | 70 (76.1) | 19 (76.0) | 91 (64.5) | 20 (80.0) | 22 (73.3) | 89 (78.8) | 56 (84.9) | 67 (84.8) | 141 (77.5) | 798 (72.5) | 0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| Anticoagulation† (%) | 3 (25.0) | 23 (35.4) | 3 (20.0) | 2 (100.0) | 4 (8.2) | 2 (18.2) | 9 (29.0) | 1 (3.6) | 7 (53.9) | 7 (15.9) | 22 (22.5) | 83 (22.6) | 0.0002 | |||||||||||||
| Antithrombotic (%) | 19 (47.5) | 230 (59.7) | 73 (68.2) | 21 (77.8) | 95 (50.0) | 22 (61.1) | 31 (50.8) | 90 (63.8) | 63 (79.8) | 74 (60.2) | 163 (58.2) | 881 (60.0) | 0.0002 | |||||||||||||
| Antihypertensive (%) | 22 (55.0) | 216 (55.7) | 46 (41.8) | 11 (40.7) | 97 (50.8) | 21 (58.3) | 24 (39.3) | 53 (37.1) | 39 (47.6) | 66 (53.7) | 108 (38.2) | 703 (47.4) | 0.0001 | |||||||||||||
| Lipid lowering (%) | 8 (20.0) | 63 (16.2) | 4 (2.8) | 0 (0) | 25 (13.1) | 1 (2.8) | 10 (16.4) | 22 (15.4) | 5 (6.1) | 15 (12.2) | 34 (12.0) | 187 (12.6) | 0.0028 | |||||||||||||
Values are n (%); comparison by χ2 test or Kruskal–Wallis test.
*Per cent anticoagulation: number on anticoagulant/number with presumed cardioembolic ischaemic stroke.
†Per cent antiplatelet: number on antiplatelet/number with presumed non‐cardioembolic ischaemic stroke.
ASU, acute stroke unit; SRU, stroke rehabilitation unit.