Abstract
Post-stroke infections are the most important complications after acute stroke, accounting
for almost 20% of in-hospital deaths and poor functional outcomes at discharge. Little
is known about long-term effects of post-stroke infections on outcome. Here, we studied
the impact of infections on long-term outcome in 64 patients which had suffered from
severe middle cerebral artery infarction. Mean follow-up time in the survivors was
6.5±0.9 years. Structured telephone interviews were performed to assess the patients' current
functional outcome. Where re-contacting was not successful, vital status of the patients
was requested at the registration office of Berlin. Multiple logistic regression analysis
identified three independent risk factors associated with mortality: infections within
the first 11 days after stroke, age>64 years, and female sex. Among surviving patients, functional outcome measured by Barthel
Index was influenced by infections and immunocompetence measured by levels of monocytic
HLA-DR expression on day 3 after stroke. In conclusion, the occurrence of post-stroke
infections is the most important predictor of poor long-term outcome in this cohort
of patients. Our observation warrants prospective trials on prevention or early treatment
of post-stroke infections in order to improve long-term outcome after stroke.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 11, 2012
Accepted:
May 21,
2012
Received in revised form:
April 19,
2012
Received:
February 21,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
