| Study characteristics |
| Methods |
RCT by means of sealed envelopes (stratified by age and side of lesion) |
| Participants |
People with acute stroke patients (within 8 days of symptoms) meeting WHO diagnostic criteria |
| Interventions |
Comprehensive stroke ward (n = 31) vs conventional care in general medical ward (n = 34) |
| Outcomes |
Death, dependency (Rankin score), place of residence, length of hospital stay at 6 months after randomisation |
| Notes |
Staffing levels were higher in the stroke unit group |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Translation ‐ randomised by the envelope method (drawing lots), stratified by age and side of lesion |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Sealed envelopes |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Difficult to conceal |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Unclear |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
No obvious missing outcome data |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Unclear risk |
Unclear |
