Serum Copeptin Predicts Severity and Recurrent Stroke in Ischemic Stroke Patients

Several studies investigated the prognostic role of copeptin in stroke. The aim of this study is to assess copeptin levels in serum, and investigate their associations with risk of recurrent stroke in a 1-year follow-up study in patients with ischemic stroke. In this post hoc analysis, serum levels of copeptin and NIH stroke scale (NIHSS) were measured at the time of admission in a cohort of 316 patients with ischemic stroke. The end point was stroke recurrence after 1-year follow-up. We used logistic regression model to assess the relationship between copeptin levels and risk recurrent stroke. Logistic regression analysis considering traditional risk factors showed a relationship between serum copeptin levels and moderate-to-high clinical severity when serum copeptin was used as a continuous variable (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.03-1.09). In the follow-up, 54 patients (17.1%) had a stroke recurrence. The stroke recurrence events distribution across the copeptin quartiles ranged between 5.1% (first quartile) to 23.1% (fourth quartile). In multivariate models comparing the third (OR = 2.78; 95% CI 1.85-3.53) and fourth quartiles (OR = 4.00; 95% CI 2.86-6.50) against the first quartile of the copeptin, levels of copeptin were associated with stroke recurrence events. A higher serum copeptin level is a predictor of both severity at admission and stroke recurrence at 1-year in stroke patients.