Gastrointestinal bowel obstruction (GIBO) is a rare but burdensome complication of acute ischemic stroke (AIS), associated with complications, disability, and mortality, according to a recent study. The predominant form of stroke-related GIBO is nonmechanical obstruction, although the causative relationship remains unknown. Researchers queried the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2002-2011) to identify all patients with a primary diagnosis of AIS and subsets with and without a secondary diagnosis of GIBO without hernia. They found:

• 16,987 patients with GIBO (.43%) were identified among 3,988,667 AIS hospitalizations and 4.2% of these patients underwent surgery.
• In multivariable analysis, patients aged >75 years were 2 times as likely to suffer GIBO compared to younger patients.
• African Americans were 42% more likely to have GIBO compared to whites.
• Stroke patients with pre-existing comorbidities (coagulopathy, cancer, blood loss anemia, and fluid/electrolyte disorder) were more likely to experience GIBO.
• AIS patients with GIBO were 184% and 39% times more likely to face moderate-to-severe disability and in-hospital death, respectively.