[Acute stroke--who dies in a stroke unit?].

Stroke unit care increases the proportions of patients able to live at home, improves functional outcome, reduces the need for institutional care, and reduces mortality. We have evaluated the data on the 69 patients who died in our stroke unit with an acute stroke, among the first 1,000 patients treated. The patients who died were older and had lower functional scores (median Barthel Index score 0 versus 70) and neurological scores (median Scandinavian Stroke Scale score 6 versus 48) at admittance. Early progression of the stroke was also more frequent in the group of patients who died. No differences in blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature were found between the groups, aside from increased diastolic pressure and heart rate in patients who died with an embolic infarction and increased systolic pressure in patients who died with an intracerebral haemorrhage.