University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Epidemiology doctoral candidate Amelia K. Boehme, MSPH, is first author on the paper Infections Present on Admission Compared with Hospital-Acquired Infections in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients, which was recently published online in the Journal of Stroke & Cerebrovascular Diseases.
Boehme and colleagues assessed the influence of infections present on admission (POA) compared with hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) on the neurologic deterioration (ND) of stroke patients treated at Tulane University Hospital. HAIs are a common complication of hospitalized patients and a leading complication among patients with stroke.
The study was performed using a prospectively collected stroke registry under the guidance of Sheryl Martin-Schild, M.D., Ph.D., director of the stroke center at Tulane. The researchers studied 334 patients, 77 of whom had some type of infection. The analyzed data suggest that HAI in stroke patients increases the odds of experiencing neuroworsening after their stroke and subsequently increases the odds of being discharged with significant disability.
Epidemiology doctoral candidate writes paper on infection in stroke patients
by Jim Bakken
HAIs are a common complication of hospitalized patients and a leading complication among patients with stroke.