Association between pre-stroke sarcopenia risk and stroke-associated infection in older people with acute ischemic stroke

Xiaodong Song; Xufeng Chen; Jie Bai; Jun Zhang

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1090829

Association between pre-stroke sarcopenia risk and stroke-associated infection in older people with acute ischemic stroke

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 Feb 23:10:1090829. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1090829. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaodong Song¹, Xufeng Chen², Jie Bai³, Jun Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China.
² Department of Neurology, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.

Abstract

Background: Stroke-associated infection (SAI) is a common complication after a stroke. The incidence of infection was higher in people with sarcopenia than in the general population. However, the relationship between pre-stroke sarcopenia risk and SAI in older patients has not been confirmed. This study aimed to investigate the association between pre-stroke sarcopenia risk and SAI in older patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS).

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted by the Peking University People's Hospital. We evaluated the pre-stroke sarcopenia risk by applying the SARC-F questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to explore the association between pre-stroke sarcopenia risk and SAI.

Results: A total of 1,002 elder patients with AIS (592 men; 72.9 ± 8.6 years) were enrolled in our study. Pre-stroke sarcopenia risk was found in 29.1% of the cohort. The proportion of patients with pre-stroke sarcopenia risk was larger in the SAI group than in the non-SAI group (43.2 vs. 25.3%, p < 0.001). In multivariate logistic analysis, pre-stroke sarcopenia risk was shown to be independently associated with SAI (OR = 1.454, 95% CI: 1.008-2.097, p = 0.045) after adjusting for potential factors. This association remained consistent across the subgroups based on age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, drinking status, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia.

Conclusion: Pre-stroke sarcopenia risk was independently associated with SAI in older patients with AIS. Our findings highlight the significance of pre-stroke sarcopenia identification in the prevention and management of SAI in this population.

Keywords: SARC-F questionnaire; acute ischemic stroke; older people; pre-stroke sarcopenia risk; stroke-associated infection.