In-Hospital Infection May Up Readmission After Stroke

THURSDAY, Nov. 8, 2018 (HealthDay News) — For patients with ischemic stroke, infection during stroke hospitalization is associated with increased odds of 30-day readmission, according to a study published online Nov. 1 in Stroke.

Amelia K. Boehme, Ph.D., from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues examined the correlation between infection during stroke hospitalization and 30-day readmission among ischemic stroke survivors. Data were included for 319,317 ischemic stroke patients.

The researchers found that 12.1 percent of patients were readmitted within 30 days and 29 percent had an infection during their index hospitalization. The odds of being readmitted were increased for patients with infection during their stroke admission versus patients without any type of infection (adjusted odds ratio, 1.21). A similar association was seen between infection and unplanned readmission (adjusted odds ratio, 1.23). When the researchers assessed specific types of infections, only urinary tract infections were associated with 30-day readmission (adjusted odds ratio, 1.1).

“It appears that ischemic stroke patients who develop a urinary tract infection in the hospital may be candidates for earlier follow-up and closer monitoring by their healthcare team,” Boehme said in a statement. “We suspect the reason the association was so much stronger for urinary tract infections was that urinary tract infections are very common compared to other infections, so the association was significant.”

One author disclosed financial ties to UpToDate.

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