Acute intrahospital stroke mortality--an improving picture

Case fatality ratios for the stroke syndrome are reported for patients admitted to two South Australian Teaching Hospitals during the period 1968--77. A fall in intrahospital acute phase stroke mortality was seen from 28.1% of stroke admissions in 1968--69 to 18.3% in 1976--77. Male stroke mortality rate fell from 28.1% to 17.0% and female mortality rate from 28.4% to 19.9% over this period. Changes in admission criteria and in duration of hospitalisation do not appear to account for this improvement in mortality figures. The age distribution of the total inpatient stroke population did not change significantly over this period. An increase in all hospital admissions of 46% over the period was paralleled in the stroke subgroup 15.5%. No improvement in therapeutic methods over the period in question appears to fully account for the improvement in mortality figures and it is inferred that these figures indicate an overall decrease in stroke severity on presentation.