STROKE ASSOCIATED PNEUMONIA: RISK FACTORS AND PREDICTING

Stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) is an important cause of post-stroke morbidity and mortality. Beside it, SAP increases medical cost and length of stay in hospital. SAP is a common post-stroke complication, affecting approximately 14% of patients with stroke. Stroke patients suffer from many risk factors for pneumonia such as dysphagia, aspiration, stroke-induced immunodepression syndrome, immobility due to paralysis, impaired consciousness ... The diagnosis of SAP faced many difficulties due to the characteristics of stroke patients: fever, decreased cough, altered mental status, leukocytosis with a left shift ... Despite improvements in acute stroke care, SAP remains the most frequent complication after stroke and is associated with poor outcome. Early identi¿cation of patients at high risk for SAP might help to justify increased monitoring and tailored prophylactic measures in clinical routine. Applying standardized scales will help doctors accurately predict the risk of SAP and improve the quality of treatment for stroke patients.