“…The rest, including charges for emergency services, laboratory workup, at least 1 brain image, and pharmaceuticals, were Charge data came from the discharge database of the hospital; others were prospectively collected at admission. Prespecified independent variables included age (Յ65 versus Ͼ65 years), sex, comorbidity, smoking, congestive heart failure, valvular heart disease, atrial fibrillation, history of cardiac disease, 1 National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, modified Barthel Index (MBI) score (0 to 11 versus 12 to 20; 20ϭnormal), hours after onset (Ͻ24 hours or not), stroke subtype (small-vessel occlusion or not), 1 intensive care unit admission, and discharge destination (with home or others the reference group). Patients with initial NIHSS score of 0 to 6, 7 to 15, and 16 to 38 were categorized as having mild, moderate, and severe stroke, respectively.…”