The rehabilitation therapy as well as the initial medical management for stroke patients should be started early to be effective. However, a little attention has been paid to the interval between the onset of stroke and rehabilitation therapy.

We studied the delay from the onset of stroke to the start of rehabilitatioin therapy and its impact on outcomes.

This study was performed retrospectively on 807 acute stroke patients who were admitted to Asan Medical Center to evaluate the interval between ictus of stroke and hospital arrival or rehabilitation therapy and to compare in the ischemic and hemorrhagic groups.

Forty seven percents of the stroke patients arrived after 24 hours of the onset of stroke and 70% of stroke patients started their rehabilitation therapy 1 week later. Hemorrhagic patients started their rehabilitation therapy significantly earlier than the ischemic patients.

This delay in hospital arrival may be attributed to the lack of awareness about the symptoms and early signs of stroke by the patients, general public, and even medical personnels. The delay in rehabilitation therapy from the onset of stroke can be prevented by the public compaigns emphasizing the better outcome with earlier rehabilitation treatment.