Outcome of Chlamydia pneumoniae associated acute ischemic stroke in elderly patients: a case-control study.

Background: Limited data exists about the role of Chlamydia pneumoniae elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Objective: To study the role of C. pneumoniae in elderly patients (age more than 65 years) with acute ischemic stroke and its impact on stroke out come.

Methods: We recruited 100 elderly patients with acute ischemic stroke and 100 age and sex matched controls over a period of 2 years. IgG and IgA anti C. pneumoniae antibodies were measured by microimmunofluorescence technique in patients and controls. Good outcome was defined as a Modified Rankin score (mRS) of ≤2.

Results: We found C. pneumoniae antibodies in 35% stroke patients and in 18% control subjects (p=0.01). Good out come at 90 days follow up was found in 20/35(57.1%) seropositive stroke patients compared to 37/65(56.9%) seronegative stroke patients (p=0.9).

Conclusions: C. pneumoniae antibody positivity was independently associated with ischemic stroke in elderly patients and its presence does not alter the stroke outcome.