Serum CRP concentrations and severity of ischemic stroke subtypes

The aim of this retrospective study was to investigate if elevated C reactive protein (CRP) was related to the stroke severity, and to analyze its different distribution in stroke subtypes.

316 patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) were enrolled and had CRP determinations; they were dichotomized as<7 or ≥7mg/L according to the previous report. 128 patients with transient ischemic attack who also had CRP measurements were selected as controls. A possible level-risk relationship between elevated CRP and NIHSS, which considered relatively severe illness as a value≥8, was studied within the AIS group.

CRP was elevated in 21% of the AIS compared to 4% in the control group (p = 0.000). Within the AIS group, patients with CRP levels ≥7mg/L had a significantly increased risk of severe stroke (OR 3.33, 95% CI 1.84-6.00, p =0.00). In subtype stroke, the highest rate of elevated CRP and NIHSS were in those with cardioembolic stroke (CE) using TOAST classification, total anterior circulation infarction (TACI) of OCSP classification and large volume infarction (LVI) of Adams classification; the odds ratio(OR) between elevated CRP and NIHSS was 6.14 (95% CI 1.43-26.44) in CE, 1.714 (95% CI 1.30-2.26) in TACI, 2.32 (95% CI 1.08-4.99) in LVI, and the p value were all below 0.05.

Elevated CRP level can reflect the severity of AIS, which was association with stroke subtype.