Abstract TP255: The Emergency Department Dysphagia Screen is Associated With Lower Rates of Pneumonia in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients
Introduction: Dysphagia is a common problem in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients predisposing them to pneumonia and leading to worse outcomes. The Joint Commission mandated that dysphagia screening be performed at hospital presentation which for most patients with AIS, is the Emergency Department (ED). No evidence exists to demonstrate if the use of an ED dysphagia screen is associated with lower rates of pneumonia. Hypothesis: We assessed the hypothesis that the use of our ED dysphagia screen would not be associated with lower rates of pneumonia in AIS patients. Methods: We performed a pre-post cohort study evaluating the rates of pneumonia in AIS patients presenting to our ED. Our pre group were AIS patients presenting from 2005-2009 and our post group from 2011-2015. The presence of pneumonia was pre-defined as new pulmonary infiltrate treated with antibiotics. We collected demographic and clinical data including rates of dysphagia and stroke severity. Data are presented as frequencies and medians with interquartile ranges (IQR) where appropriate. Rates of pneumonia were compared using the t-test. Results: We evaluated 419 pre screen and 1022 post screen AIS patients. Both groups were 50% female. The use of thombolytics in the pre group was 10% and post group was 11%. The median ages and ED NIHSS scores for the pre and post population were 63 years (IQR 53-73), 6 (IQR 3-10) and 64 years (IQR 56-76), 4 (IQR 2-8). Rates of dysphagia during hospitalization were 20% and 31% for the pre-post groups respectively. Rates of pneumonia for the pre-post groups were 13.8% and 8.0% respectively which was significantly different P=0.0007. Conclusion: The use of an ED dysphagia screen is associated with a lower rate of pneumonia in AIS patients. This study was not designed to prove causation so other factors also may have influenced the lower rate of pneumonia including possibly slightly less severe strokes. The rates of diagnosed dysphagia were higher in the post group suggesting ED screening may heighten awareness resulting in increased diagnoses of dysphagia. Given the rates of dysphagia and pneumonia early screening of AIS patients in the ED seems prudent.