| Study characteristics |
| Methods |
RCT
Subgroup of Nottingham (stroke unit vs mixed rehabilitation ward) |
| Participants |
People with stroke at 2 weeks after stroke onset
Able to participate actively in rehabilitation |
| Interventions |
Stroke rehabilitation ward in department of geriatric medicine (n = 98) vs conventional care in general medical ward (n = 76)
Organised care provided for months if required |
| Outcomes |
Death, Barthel Index, place of residence, Nottingham Health Profile, length of hospital stay up to 1 year after stroke |
| Notes |
Some cross‐over from general medical ward to geriatric medicine department |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
"Stratified based on admission ward... then randomly allocated" |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Method of allocation concealment unclear |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Difficult to conceal |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Blinded outcome assessment |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Some secondary outcome assessments not completed or partially completed; this varied between groups |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
All pre‐specified outcomes reported |
