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Urinary tract infection may confer increased stroke odds
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Infection, most prominently urinary tract infection, was associated with elevated risk for acute ischemic stroke, according to findings published in Stroke.
The researchers also found that respiratory infection was associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage, but other kinds of infections were not.
Solly Sebastian, BS, of the department of neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and colleagues investigated exposure to infection in different organ systems in different periods before the acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
“Health care providers need to be aware that stroke can be triggered by infections,” Mandip Dhamoon, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said in a press release. “Probing into the previous weeks or months of a patient’s life before the stroke can sometimes help to illuminate the possible causes of stroke if there was an infection during that time.”
The researchers analyzed data from the New York State Inpatient and Emergency Department databases between 2006 and 2013. Hospitalizations for acute ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage, as well as ED visits and hospitalizations for infections of the skin, urinary tract, abdomen and respiratory system, as well as septicemia, were identified.
Sebastian and colleagues found each of the infections were associated with increased risk for acute ischemic stroke.
In a 7-day window, the strongest association was between urinary tract infection and acute ischemic stroke (OR = 5.32; 95% CI, 3.69-7.68), the researchers wrote.
Although not to as great an extent as with acute ischemic stroke, urinary tract infection was associated with intracerebral hemorrhage at 14 days (OR = 1.8; 95% CI, 1.04-3.11) and 120 days (OR = 1.54; 95% CI, 1.23-1.94), Sebastian and colleagues wrote, noting that skin infections, septicemia and respiratory infections were also associated with intracerebral hemorrhage.
Respiratory infection was the only source of infection associated with subarachnoid hemorrhage (14-day exposure OR = 3.67; 95% CI, 1.49-9.04; 120-day OR = 1.95; 95% CI, 1.44-2.64), the researchers found.
“Our study shows that we need to do more to understand why and how infections are associated with the occurrence of different kinds of stroke, and that will help us to determine what we can do to present these types of strokes,” Dhamoon said in the release. “These findings suggest that there could be implications for vaccination, antibiotic regimens or intensive antithrombotic treatments not only to prevent the infections but to prevent stroke in those who are deemed high risk.” – by Earl Holland Jr.
Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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