Recruitment {15}
stroke, acute stroke
STROKE, RECRUITMENT, ACUTE STROKE
The six participating sites treat a total of approx. 6,000 acute stroke patients per year (~ 15,000 during the 30-months recruitment period), of which 144 patients will be included (i.e., ~ 1% of the stroke population handled at the study sites, and on average 10–11 patients per study site per year). Similar recruitment rates have been achieved in the targeted patient group previously by the applicants in pilot studies in Tübingen and Cologne [The following overall dropout rates (i.e., loss to follow-up for all kinds of reasons) were reported in the high-frequency rTMS trials in early subacute stroke patients with similar trial designs: 17% of 157 included patients [