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. 2012;7(12):e51452.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0051452. Epub 2012 Dec 12.

Pneumococcal pneumonia and the risk of stroke: a population-based follow-up study

Li-Fu Chen  1 , Hsin-Pai Chen, Yung-Sung Huang, Kuang-Yung Huang, Pesus Chou, Ching-Chih Lee
Affiliations

Pneumococcal pneumonia and the risk of stroke: a population-based follow-up study

Li-Fu Chen et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

Background: To investigate the risk of developing stroke in patients hospitalized following a diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia.

Methods: The study cohorts comprised of patients hospitalized with a principal diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia (n = 745), with a random sampling of control individuals in 2004 (n = 1490). The Cox proportional hazard model was used to compare the stroke-free survival rate between the cohorts after adjusting for possible confounding and risk factors for a two-year follow up. Instrumental variable analysis (IVA) was used to address potential biases associated with measured and unmeasured confounding variables.

Results: Of the 153 patients with stroke, 80 (10.7%) were from the pneumococcal pneumonia cohort, and 73 (4.9%) were from the control group. The risk of stroke was 3.65 times higher (95% confidence interval, 2.25-5.90; P<0.001) in patients with pneumococcal pneumonia after adjusting for patient characteristics, co-morbidities, geographic region, urbanization level of residence, and socioeconomic status during the first year. IVA showed an additional 14% risk of stroke for pneumococcal pneumonia patients (odds ratio = 1.14; 95% CI, 1.02-1.26, P = 0.032).

Conclusions: Patients with pneumococcal pneumonia carry an increased risk for stroke than the general population. Further studies are warranted for developing better diagnostic and follow-up strategies for patients with increased risk.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Cumulative risk of stroke for the pneumococcal pneumonia patients and the controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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