Table 1. Baseline.

	ESD group n = 40	NoESD group n = 110	p-value
Age mean (SD) and range (years)	70 (12) 41–93	67 (15) 24–91	0.51
Sex: male/female (n)	21/19	64/46	0.53
Living together/living alone	20/20	51/59	0.69
Social services: yes/no	2/38	12/98	0.27
University level education: yes/no	15/23 a	27/76 b	0.12
Born in Sweden/born abroad	35/5	93/17	0.65
Before stroke
Barthel Index median (IQR) g	100 (100–100)	100 (100–100)	0.91
Katz Extended Index of ADL median (IQR) g	10 (9–10)	10 (9–10)	0.47
Comorbidity
Previous stroke: yes/no	15/25	27/81	0.13
Previous transient ischaemic attack: yes/no	3/37	6/104	0.7
Hypertonia: yes/no	21/19	53/57	0.64
Diabetes: yes/no	7/33	22/88	0.73
At stroke onset
Mini Mental State Examination, median (interquartile range)	27 (23–29) c	27 (24–28) d	0.49
Barthel Index median (IQR) g	90 (80–100)	90 (85–100)	0.54
Katz Index of ADL (IQR) g	6 (5–6)	6 (5–6)	0.18
Speech: no aphasia/aphasia	24/15	84/23	0.04
Walking: walk independently with or without walking aid/unable to walk independently	36/4	97/13	1

^an = 38

^bn = 103

^cn = 32

^dn = 93

^en = 39

^fn = 107

^g interquartile range