Sociodemographic and Clinical Factors Associated With Clinical Outcome in Neuroinfectious Diseases: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study

Neurohospitalist. 2024 Oct;14(4):396-405. doi: 10.1177/19418744241263138. Epub 2024 Jun 17.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized with neuroinfectious diseases at three tertiary care centers in New York City.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at three large urban tertiary care centers between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2017. Poor clinical outcome was defined as length of hospital stay (LOS) ≥2 weeks and/or discharge to a location other than home. Sociodemographic and clinical factors were obtained from electronic medical records and descriptively analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis investigated relationships between sociodemographic and clinical factors, and outcomes.

Results: Among 205 patients with definitive neuroinfectious diagnoses, older patients were more likely to have a LOS ≥2 weeks (odds ratio [OR]: 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01-1.05) and less likely to be discharged home (OR: 0.96; 95% CI: 0.94-0.98) than younger patients. Patients with an immunocompromised state were more likely to have a LOS ≥2 weeks (OR: 2.80; 95% CI: 1.17-6.69). Additionally, patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) were more likely to have a LOS ≥2 weeks (OR: 4.65; 95% CI: 2.13-10.16) and less likely to be discharged home (OR: 0.14; 95% CI: 0.06-0.34). There were no statistically significant associations between sex, race, ethnicity, English proficiency, substance use, or poverty index, and clinical outcome.

Conclusions: In this multicenter cohort of hospitalized neuroinfectious diseases, older age, history of immunocompromised state, and admission to the ICU were significantly associated with poor clinical outcome.

Keywords: central nervous system bacterial infections; central nervous system infections; central nervous system viral diseases; outcomes.