Quality of care for ischemic stroke in the Brazilian Unified National Health System

The hospital mortality rate is an outcome measure of care used as an indicator of quality of care for stroke. Computerized tomography is the main imaging method for diagnosing and managing stroke. This study aimed to assess the quality of hospital care for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in the Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS), considering the severity of cases and use of computerized tomography. Multivariate analysis was used to adjust the mortality risk, evaluate the use of computerized tomography, and rank the performance of hospitals from April 2006 to December 2007. 16,879 admissions were analyzed, and at least one CT scan was performed in 28.6% of the admissions. The crude mortality rate was 34.3%, and the adjusted rate was 31.2%. Performance of a CT scan showed a protective effect: the adjusted OR was 0.27 for one test and 0.32 for two tests. Under-utilization of computerized tomography is one of the limiting factors for good medical practice in the management of ischemic stroke in the SUS.