Stroke care for people with aphasia in acute hospitals

• Do people with aphasia have different stroke care in hospital?
• What outcomes do people with aphasia have in hospital?

This was an observational study. We looked at information from hospitals.

We compared stroke care for people with aphasia and people without aphasia. 

People with aphasia had different stroke care.

• They were less likely to be checked for mood problems.
• They were less likely to get information about stroke risks.
• They were less likely to be involved in care planning.
• They were less likely to be checked for rehabilitation needs.

People with aphasia had worse outcomes.

• They had more health problems during their stay.
• They needed more help when leaving hospital.
• They were less likely to go home.
• They were more likely to go to a nursing home after hospital.

We know people with aphasia after stroke have poor outcomes compared to people without aphasia.

We do not know much about the quality of stroke care that people with aphasia receive in hospital.

This research helps us to improve stroke care for people with aphasia in hospital.

• We found differences in stroke care for people with aphasia. This is an important first step.
• Now we know what areas of stroke care should be improved.

This was an observational study.

We looked at information from hospitals.

• The information was about stroke care and outcomes.
• The information was from acute hospitals. This is where people are first treated after stroke. 
• The information was collected by The Stroke Foundation.

We conducted tests.

• We compared the stroke care for people with aphasia and people without aphasia.
• We looked at the outcomes for people with aphasia. 

This study did not provide treatment. 

We know people with aphasia after stroke have poor outcomes compared to people without aphasia.

We do not know much about the quality of stroke care for people with aphasia in hospital.

We need to know about the care provided so that we can find ways to improve care. 

N/A

N/A. We looked at information from hospitals. 

• There were 11,613 patients with stroke in the study. 
• 3122 patients had aphasia. 

Hospital information helps us to see what care people receive.

We used hospital information from 2017, 2019 and 2021.

In Australia.

N/A

The information is from snapshots in time. It does not include every person with stroke. 

The information was collected by The Stroke Foundation. A team of researchers looked at the information. 

• This research helps us to improve stroke care for people with aphasia in hospital.
• Now we know what areas of stroke care should be improved.
• The next step is to share these findings. 

The study is published. You can read it online. You can ask the researchers for more information.