| Summary: | Background: Cerebrovascular stroke (CVS) is a common cause of death and disability. The C-reactive protein increases in response to stroke and may be used as a predictor for stroke outcome. We intended in this study to evaluate the role of serum CRP in predicting outcomes in CVS.
Methods: We included 50 patients with a first-ever acute stroke admitted within 24 h of onset with a mean age of 59.5 ± 8.6 years. Neurological evaluation of our patients on admission included assessment of stroke severity by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) while seven days later; outcome was evaluated by a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthel ADL index (BI). CRP level assay and CT brain were done to all patients on admission.
Results: In the ischemic stroke group, we found that serum CRP level on admission was predictive of stroke severity (positively correlated with NIHSS (r = 0.54, P = 0.006)) as well as outcome (positively correlated with mRS (r = 0.56, P = 0.004) and negatively correlated with BI (r = −0.66, P < 0.001)). A CRP level of 10.25 mg/L was predictive of a severe ischemic stroke with a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 75% as well as a poor outcome using mRS with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 82%. In hemorrhagic stroke, however, CRP level was not correlated with either disease severity or with the outcome scores.
Conclusion: We concluded that the serum CRP level on admission can be used to predict severity and early outcome in ischemic but not in hemorrhagic stroke.
|
|---|