Hospital-acquired infections after acute ischaemic stroke and its association with healthcare-related costs and functional outcome

A bstract Introduction Acute ischaemic stroke is associated with important mortality, morbidity, and healthcare-related costs. Age, pre-stroke functionality and stroke severity are important contributors to functional outcome. Stroke patients also risk developing infections during hospitalization. We sought to explore possible predictors of post-stroke infections and the relationship of post-stroke infection with healthcare-related costs and functional outcome. Methods This single-centre retrospective study included 530 patients treated for ischaemic stroke between January 2017 and February 2019. Antibiotics’ administration was used as a proxy for post-stroke infection. Functional outcome at 90 days was assessed by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Total healthcare-related costs were recorded for the index hospital stay. Multivariable analysis for post-stroke infection was done with the independent factors sex, age, pre-stroke mRS, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and diabetes mellitus. Results Twenty percent of patients had a post-stroke infection. NIHSS (OR 1.10, 95%CI 1.06–1.13, p