PNEUMONIA

Introduction: Stroke is a major cause of death and disability globally, with anexpected rise in number of patients with ageing and economic transition of developing countries.Pneumonia is one of the major complications after stroke. Stroke associated pneumoniaincreases risk of death by three fold and is the major cause of morbidity and mortality afterthe stroke. Objective: To determine the frequency and factors leading to stroke associatedpneumonia in all acute stroke patients admitted at a tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Caseseries. Setting: Medical Department, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi. Period:six months and extended from 1st July 2015 to 31st December 2015. Material and methods:All adult patients (age 14 years and above) admitted through emergency room in the medicalward of Aga khan university hospital Karachi with the diagnosis of acute stroke on the basis ofMRI findings were enrolled after taking informed consent through Non purposive consecutivesampling technique. Demographic data like age and sex were recorded. Diagnosis of strokeassociated pneumonia was made on basis of CDC criteria for pneumonia. All analyses wasconducted by using the Statistical package for social science SPSS (Release 19.0, standardversion, copyright © SPSS; 1989-02). Results: A total of 157 patients admitted with a mean ageof the inducted patients were 61.75 ± 13.91 years. According to this stratification, 23 patients(14.65%) were aged less than 45 years and remaining 134 subjects (85.35%) were above theage of 45 years among them 110 were males (70.1 %) and 47 were females (29.9 %). Strokeassociated pneumonia was found in 33 (21%) out of 157 patients. Out of 33 patients havingstroke associated pneumonia; 14 (42.4%) patients had Diabetes mellitus. Out of 33 patientshaving stroke associated pneumonia; 28 (84.8%) patients had hypertension. Out of 33 patientshaving stroke associated pneumonia; 2 (6%) had COPD. Out of 33 patients having strokeassociated pneumonia; 2(6%) had Chronic Atrial Fibrillation. Out of 33 patients having strokeassociated pneumonia; 21 (63.6%) patients had impaired swallowing. Conclusion: Strokeassociated pneumonia is the common and serious complication after stroke. All the effortsshould be taken to control various factors leading to stroke associated pneumonia like DM,hypertension, and impaired swallowing to improve stroke outcome.