title: Risk factors of stroke-associated pneumonia in Chinese patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the risk factors for stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP).
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective research study was carried out to investigate the clinical data of 1435 patients admitted to the neurological intensive care unit at our university hospital between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A multi-factorial analysis produced the following results: (1) SAP is 1.113 times more likely to occur for each 1-year increase in age; (2) diabetic patients are 1.612 times more likely to develop SAP than non-diabetic patients; (3) the incidence of SAP decreases by a factor of 0.890 with a one-point increase in the Glasgow coma scale score; (4) nasal feeding patients are 4.981 times more likely to develop SAP than non-nasal feeding patients; (5) patients who use H₂-receptor blocking agents are 2.837 times more likely to develop SAP than those who do not; (6) patients who preventively use antibiotics are 2.675 times more likely to develop SAP than those who do not; (7) patients whose hospitalization periods are >20 days are 0.500 times more likely to develop SAP than those who do not; (8) patients who suffer from tracheal intubation are 2.980 times more likely to develop SAP than those who do not; and (9) patients who suffer from tracheal incision are 2.190 times more likely to develop SAP than those who do not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SAP was more closely related with diabetes, age, consciousness, days of hospitalization, tracheal intubation, tracheal incision, nasal feeding treatment, and the application of H₂-receptor blocking agents and antimicrobials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Jinzhou, China.
authors.forename: Rubo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000208:ethnology*