Article Commentary: “Antibiotic Therapy for Preventing Infections in People With Acute Stroke”
Mark Sabra, MD
Infections are common complications in acute stroke patients, whether ischemic or hemorrhagic infarcts. Infections in the hospital setting have been associated with worse outcomes in stroke patients from a morbidity/mortality standpoint. The two most common infections that were studied were urinary tract infections and pneumonia. This publication was updating the completion of a meta-analysis that started in 2012.
Results were obtained by meta-analysis of databases, trial registers, references and randomized controlled trials. Of the 8 trials that were chosen, there were 4488 patients total with 2230 receiving preventive antibiotics vs. 2258 not receiving antibiotics.