Vitamin C status and other nutritional indices in patients with stroke and other acute illnesses: a case-control...

Sixty-three patients with acute thrombotic stroke were compared with 47 age and sex-matched patients admitted concurrently with acute ischaemic cardiac pain and a further 44 with acute noncardiovascular illnesses. Overall the stroke patients scored highest on a questionnaire designed to estimate mean daily intake of vitamin C before hospital admission. There were problems with this retrospective dietary assessment, however, and the diet scores of the 27 stroke patients able to answer the questionnaire themselves fell between those of the other two groups. There were no significant differences between the three patient groups in plasma ascorbic acid or uric acid levels, but plasma magnesium and albumin levels were higher in the stroke patients. These findings were similar for patients aged over and under 70 but intergroup differences in magnesium and albumin levels were more marked in the elderly. These results do not support the postulated inverse relationship between vitamin C status and the risk of stroke.