Survey on stroke rehabilitation in Europe (SUSTAIN-EU) to evaluate European stroke rehabilitation services.

The figures come from one or two nominated experts per country rather than from records. Different respondents may have read the definitions differently, so the numbers reflect what delegates believed was available, not verified counts. It records whether a service exists, not how much of it there is, how good it is, or how many patients actually receive it. The authors say a service counted as available in a country may differ substantially in coverage, accessibility, staffing and integration. No patient outcomes were collected, so nothing here links service availability to how well stroke patients recover. The authors state that any effect on function, participation, quality of life or dependence was not measured. The physician numbers are each country's whole rehabilitation medicine workforce, not the number working in stroke. The authors warn that this should not be read as the stroke-specific workforce. Germany, Austria and Finland did not take part and Denmark was excluded, so this is not a complete picture of Europe and may not represent it. The comparison between countries that joined the society before and after 1991 rests on a historical grouping, and the authors acknowledge it may introduce bias.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The work was funded by a research grant from the European Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, and the authors state the sponsor had no involvement that could have influenced the results.

Do not read this as evidence about which stroke rehabilitation works, or as proof that patients in countries with fewer services recover worse. The survey recorded only whether experts said a service was available, collected no patient outcomes, and did not measure how much any service is used.