Serious adverse events experienced by survivors of stroke in the first year following discharge from inpatient rehabilitation.

Purpose To identify the incidence of adverse events (AE) that occurred in stroke survivors during the first year following discharge from inpatient rehabilitation and to determine the type and patterns of AE. Methods Data were collected for 12 months on events resulting in admissions to the emergency department, hospital, long-term care facility, or death. Descriptive statistics were used to depict the patterns of AE and univariate comparisons were made of the differences between survivors who did or did not experience one or more AE. Results Of the 159 participants, 50% reported a total of 163 AE. Most AE (82.2%) were unexpected and the majority occurred during the first 6 months; 12 recurrent strokes and 6 transient ischemic attacks occcurred. Conclusions Education on prevention and treatment of common AE is important prior to discharge. Anticipatory guidance may help survivors and caregivers modify their lifestyle and prevent common AE.