Abstract WP200: Post-operative Infection Does not Increase Risk of Post-operative Stroke: Analysis From a Nationwide Quality Initiative Program

Abstract

Introduction: Infection has been described as a trigger for acute ischemic stroke, but the relationship between postoperative infection and the risk of postoperative stroke is unclear. We investigated the association between postoperative infection and stroke using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Initiative Program (NSQIP) database. Hypothesis: Postoperative infection is associated with an increased risk of postoperative stroke. Methods: We used the NSQIP database to identify all patients who underwent surgery between the years of 2000 and 2010 and developed a postoperative stroke within 30 days of surgery. The group was further stratified according to the presence of infection preceding stroke. Using a logistic regression model adjusted for age, race, sex, medical comorbidities, surgical type, and dichotomized functional status, we compared the risk of stroke in patients with and without preceding infections, and investigated the risk of infection following stroke. Results: 729,886 surgical patients were identified, of whom 2,703 (0.3%) developed postoperative stroke. 848 (0.12%) patients developed both postoperative stroke and infection. Among patients who had postoperative stroke, 100 (3.7%) had developed an infection prior to developing a stroke. Patients with infection prior to stroke had a lower risk of stroke than patients who did not develop infection prior to stroke (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.25, 95%CI 0.20-0.32). 748 patients (0.1%) developed an infection after having a postoperative stroke. These patients had a higher risk of infection (incidence rate ratio 2.76, 95%CI 2.57-2.97) and a higher odds of infection (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.47, 95%CI 3.18-3.78) than patients who did not have a stroke. Conclusions: We found that the presence of a preceding infection was associated with a low risk of postoperative stroke in a large surgical inpatient sample. Although the total number of strokes may have been under-reported, these results conflict with other studies that report that infection is a trigger for ischemic stroke. Further analyses using more granular data are needed to investigate the relationship between postoperative infection and the risk of postoperative stroke.