Frequency of "in-hospital fever" in stroke patients

Abstract

Fever is one of the most common complications in the acute stage of stroke, which is seen in 50% of patients. So that this fever can be associated with worsening of patients' clinical condition. The aim of this study is to estimation the frequency of "in-hospital fever" in stroke patients. Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study and the target population consisted of all patients who were admitted to Imam Reza Hospital of Tabriz in 2018 with a diagnosis of stroke. Sampling included all patients with stroke and their records is available who had a definitive diagnosis based on radiological findings (92 patients). In-hospital fever was considered the fever above 38.3 degrees in the first 48 hours after diagnosis and hospitalization. The method of data collection was based on a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21. Results: In this study, the mean (standard deviation) age of the subjects was 69.92 (±13.7) years. The highest history of previous disease in the subjects of this study was related to hypertension with 60 cases (65.2%), followed by diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease with 23 cases (25.0%) and 16 cases (17.4%), respectively. In this study, the type of stroke in all subjects was ischemic, which that 16 cases (19.8%) of these patients had a fever. The most obvious clinical symptom in these cases was weakness in half of the body in 73 cases (80.2%) and loss of consciousness in 18 cases (19.8%). The median (first and third quarters) interval between the onset of clinical symptoms and hospitalization in the subjects was 8.0 (5.5-14.0) hours. Also, the median (first and third quarters) of the hospital stay in these patients was 5.0 (3.0-8.0) days. The type of treatment in these patients was thrombolysis in 11 cases (12.2%) and thrombolectomy in one case (1.1%). Urine, gastric catheterization and intubation were prescribed in 51 cases (56.7%), 43 cases (47.8%) and 24 cases (27.9%) of the subjects, respectively. In total, 62 cases (76.5%) of the subjects survived at the time of discharge and 19 cases (23.5%) died. In this study, the results of the majority of laboratory findings including: leukocytosis, CRP, Blood culture, Urine analysis, Urine culture, CSF and CXR in the subjects were negative.