External Validation of the A²DS² Score to Predict Stroke-Associated Pneumonia in a Chinese Population: A Prospective Cohort Study

<div><p>Background and Purpose</p><p>The A²DS² score was recently developed from the Berlin Stroke Registry for predicting in-hospital pneumonia after acute ischemic stroke and performed well in an external validation in the North-west Germany Stroke Registry. It could be a useful tool for risk stratification in clinical practice or stroke trials. We aimed to prospectively validate the predictive value of A²DS² score in a Chinese stroke population.</p><p>Methods</p><p>The prognostic model was used to predict stroke-associated pneumonia (SAP) from Henan Province Stroke Registry (HNSR) in which data were prospectively collected. The receiver-operating characteristic curves were plotted, and the C statistics were calculated to assess the discrimination ability. The Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test and the plot of observed versus predicted SAP risk were used to assess model calibration.</p><p>Results</p><p>Among 1142 eligible patients, the overall in-hospital SAP was 18.8%, which ranged from 9.0% in patients with lower A²DS² scores (0–4) to 65.0% in those with higher scores of 5 to 10 (P for trend <0.001). The C statistic was 0.836 (95% confidence interval, 0.803–0.868) through the A²DS² score, suggesting excellent discrimination in the HNSR. The A²DS² score also showed excellent calibration (Cox and Snell <i>R</i>² = 0.243) in the external validation sample from the HNSR.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The A²DS² score could reliably predict in-hospital SAP in Chinese stroke patients. It might be helpful for the assessment of increased risk monitoring and prophylactic treatment in identified high-risk patients for SAP in clinical routine.</p>