Prevalence and independent predictors of in-hospital stroke among patients who developed acute alteration of consciousness in the medical intensive care unit: A retrospective case-control study.

The present study reports that almost half (46%) of critically ill patients with alterations of consciousness had an acute stroke. Of these, two-thirds had an acute ischaemic stroke (AIS), and one-third had an intracranial haemorrhage (ICH). Multivariate analysis revealed that a pupillary abnormality was a predictor for ICH and the Babinski sign was identified as a predictor of AIS.