The Feasibility of the Braden Scale for Assessing Pneumonia After Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Abstract Background Stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) is an infection that commonly occurs in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and causes serious burdens. The six subscales of the Braden scale seem to be related to the occurrence of pneumonia. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of the Braden scale for predicting SAP after spontaneous ICH. Methods Patients with spontaneous ICH who were admitted to Jingjiang People’s Hospital and Zhoukou Central Hospital were retrospectively included and divided into two groups: the pneumonia and no pneumonia groups. The Braden scale and ICH-APS-A scale scores and demographic and clinical characteristics were collected, and the differences between the two groups were compared with statistical analyses. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess the predictive validity of the Braden scale for SAP after ICH. Results A total of 629 patients with ICH were included in this study, 150 (23.8%) of whom developed SAP. There were significant differences in age and fasting blood glucose level between the two groups, and the ICH-ASP-A score in the pneumonia group was significantly higher than that in the no pneumonia group (8.5 ± 3.9 vs 4.9 ± 3.2, P < 0.01). The mean score on the Braden scale in the pneumonia group was significantly lower than that in the no pneumonia group (16.5 ± 2.6, P < 0.01). The area under the curve (AUC) for the ICH-ASP-A score for the prediction of pneumonia after spontaneous ICH was 0.755 (95% CI = 0.712–0.798). When the cutoff point was 8 points, the sensitivity was 56.7% and the specificity was 77.5%. The AUC for the Braden scale for the prediction of pneumonia after ICH was 0.760 (95% CI = 0.717–0.804). When the cutoff point was 15 points, the sensitivity was 74.3% and the specificity was 64.7%. Conclusions The Braden scale is effective in predicting pneumonia after ICH. The Braden scale, with a cutoff point of 15 points, is a valid clinical grading scale for predicting SAP after spontaneous ICH.