A Study on Stroke-Associated Pneumonia in a Tertiary Care Center and Effect of Serum Albumin on Patient Outcomes

Abstract

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine if serum albumin level is an independent predictor of nosocomial pneumonia in stroke patients. Methods: Relevant medical data of 500 consecutive ischemic stroke patients admitted within 24 h of stroke onset during the study period were analyzed. Serum albumin level was measured within 36 h after stroke onset. Nosocomial pneumonia was foundin 10.5% of stroke patients. SPSS (Version 22.0) was used for analysis. Results: Patients with pneumonia had significantly lower serum albumin level than those without pneumonia (31.5 ± 7.3 g/l vs. 35.3 ± 6.4 g/l) and serum albumin level was associated with risk of pneumonia on multivariate analysis (OR: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.90–0.97). Conclusion: Our results show that serum albumin level is an independent predictor of nosocomial pneumonia in stroke patients.