ArticlePloS one2018
Influence of beta-blocker therapy on the risk of infections and death in patients at high risk for stroke induced immunodepression.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Immunomodulation for stroke-associated pneumonia: a systematic review of mechanistic insight and emerging therapeutic strategies in animal models.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis show a decreasing prevalence of post-stroke infections.BMC neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A hyperacute immune map of ischaemic stroke patients reveals alterations to circulating innate and adaptive cells.Clinical and experimental immunology · 2021Trial
- Frontiers and literature review on non-aspiration stroke-associated infections.European journal of medical research · 2026Review
- Beyond the usual suspects: rethinking post-stroke immunosuppression.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Autonomic dysfunction after stroke: an overview of recent clinical evidence and perspectives on therapeutic management.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2025Review
- Neuroimmune Interactions and Their Role in Immune Cell Trafficking in Cardiovascular Diseases and Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Article
- Premorbid Use of Beta-Blockers or Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors/Angiotensin Receptor Blockers in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2023Article
- Premorbid use of selective beta-blockers improves sepsis incidence and course: Human cohort and animal model studies.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
- Association between Antihypertensive Therapy and Risk of Acute Lower Respiratory Infections (ALRI): A Retrospective Cohort Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Circulating Inflammatory Biomarkers in Early Prediction of Stroke-Associated Infections.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Systemic inflammation after stroke: implications for post-stroke comorbidities.EMBO molecular medicine · 2022Review
- Recent Advances in the Impact of Infection and Inflammation on Stroke Risk and Outcomes.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2022Review
- Brain to periphery in acute ischemic stroke: Mechanisms and clinical significance.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2021Review
- Stroke-induced immunosuppression: implications for the prevention and prediction of post-stroke infections.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2021Review
- Review
- Effect of Beta-Blockers on Stroke Outcome: A Meta-Analysis.Clinical epidemiology · 2021Review
- Autonomic nervous system activity and the risk of nosocomial infection in critically ill patients with brain injury.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStroke-induced immunodepression is a well characterized complication of acute ischemic stroke. In experimental studies beta-blocker therapy reversed stroke-induced immunodepression, reduced infection rates and mortality. Recent, heterogeneous studies in stroke patients could not provide evidence of a protective effect of beta-blocker therapy. Aim of this study is to investigate the potential preventive effect of beta-blockers in subgroups of patients at high risk for stroke-induced immunodepression.
methodsData from a prospectively derived registry of major stroke patients receiving endovascular therapy between 2011-2017 in a tertiary stroke center (University Medical Center Göttingen. Germany) was used. The effect of beta-blocker therapy on pneumonia, urinary tract infection, sepsis and mortality was assessed using multivariate logistic regression analysis.
resultsThree hundred six patients with a mean age of 72 ± 13 years and a median NIHSS of 16 (IQR 10.75-20) were included. 158 patients (51.6%) had pre-stroke- and continued beta-blocker therapy. Beta-blocker therapy did not reduce the incidence of pneumonia (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.31-1.92, p = 0.584), urinary tract infections (OR 1.51, 0.88-2.60, p = 0.135), sepsis (OR 0.57, 0.18-1.80, p = 0.334) or mortality (OR 0.59, 0.16-2.17, p = 0.429). Strokes involving the insula and anterio-medial cortex increased the risk for pneumonia (OR 4.55, 2.41-8.56, p<0.001) and sepsis (OR 4.13, 1.81-9.43, p = 0.001), while right hemispheric strokes increased the risk for pneumonia (OR 1.60, 0.92-2.77, p = 0.096). There was a non-significantly increased risk for urinary tract infections in patients with beta-blocker therapy and insula/anterio-medial cortex strokes (OR 3.12, 95% CI 0.88-11.05, p = 0.077) with no effect of beta-blocker therapy on pneumonia, sepsis or mortality in both subgroups.
conclusionsIn major ischemic stroke patients, beta-blocker therapy did not lower post-stroke infection rates and was associated with urinary tract infections in a subgroup with insula/anterio-medial strokes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.