All infection types appear to be associated with an increased risk of acute ischaemic stroke, according to a US study.

Every infection type — skin, urinary tract, abdominal, respiratory and septicaemia — was associated with significantly increased odds of acute ischaemic stroke, according to the study in Stroke.

The greatest association was for UTI, which was linked with 5.32-fold increased odds of ischaemic stroke within seven days of infection.

Researchers used the New York State Inpatient and Emergency Department Databases from 2006 to 2013 to examine the possible associations between infections in different body systems and the risk of ischaemic stroke, subarachnoid haemorrhage and intracerebral haemorrhage.