Researchers looked at 80 patients admitted with acute ischemic stroke within 24 hours at a hospital in Jakarta. They measured various circulating biomarkers and analyzed the patients' gut microbiota to see if these signs could predict who would develop an infection after their stroke.
The study found that about 46% of the patients developed a post-stroke infection. When analyzing blood markers, one called NMDAR showed the highest ability to predict infection, while several others also performed well. Patients with infections showed changes in their gut bacteria, including a loss of beneficial microbes and a rise in harmful ones.
Models that combined both the blood markers and gut bacteria information predicted infection risk more accurately than looking at just one source of data. The researchers suggest this combined approach could help doctors identify patients at higher risk and plan preventive strategies. However, this was a small study involving only 80 people, so the results need to be confirmed in larger groups before changing standard care.