Comparison 5.Effect of discharge planning on mortality rate com-pared to usual care.
A meta analysis of 2 trials failed to detect a statistically significant difference in mortality at 9 months (OR 1.44, 95% CI 0.82 to 2.51) [Nazareth; Sulch]. The two trials recruited different pop-ulations, one recruited elderly patients with a range of medical conditions and the other patients recovering from a stroke. One study [Evans] recruiting a mix of surgical and medical patients failedto detect a difference between groups at 9 months follow up (treatment group 66/417 (16%), compared with 67/418 (16%) in the control group).