The diagnostic and prognostic performance of Lp-PLA2 in acute ischemic stroke

We aimed to investigate the correlation between serum lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) level and acute ischemic stroke (AIS) severity and recurrence, which could indicate the diagnostic and prognostic values of Lp-PLA2.

Two hundred and fifty-one AIS patients who were diagnosed in the department of neurology, China-Japan Union Hospital, from April 2018 to June 2019 and 100 non-cerebrovascular disease patients were included in this study. Demographic data and clinical materials including age, sex, BMI, medical history, bad habits, imaging data, blood tests, etc., were collected. Stroke severity and risk were evaluated, respectively. AIS patients were followed up for 6 months for stroke recurrence monitoring.

The AIS group had significantly higher Lp-PLA2 level than the control group. High Lp-PLA2 level was the independent risk factor of AIS (OR 1.010; 95% CI 1.007-1.013, P<0.001). Admission NIHSS was compared between Lp-PLA2 categories dichotomized by median. Serum Lp-PLA2 level was positively correlated with NIHSS (r=0.268, P<0.001). Mild stroke group and severe stroke group were defined based on NIHSS. Compared with the mild stroke group, the severe stroke group had higher smoking ratio, posterior circulation stenosis incidence, LDL level, Lp-PLA2 level and admission Essen score. Logistic regression showed Lp-PLA2 levels per 50ng/mL (OR 1.381, 95% CI 1.212-1.573, P<0.001) and Lp-PLA2 category (OR 2.420, 95% CI 1.363-4.297, P=0.003) were both independently associated with severe stroke. During the 6-month follow-up of all 251 AIS patients, 31 stroke recurrence cases were observed. Both Lp-PLA2 levels per 50ng/mL (OR 1.420, 95% CI 1.212-1.664, P<0.001) and Lp-PLA2 category (OR 2.726, 95% CI 1.201-6.178, P=0.016) were significantly associated with the stroke recurrence. Under the receiver Operating Characteristic curve, Lp-PLA2 showed significant predicting ability for stroke recurrence (AUC 0.723; 95% CI 0.620-0.826, P<0.001).

High serum Lp-PLA2 level is correlated with AIS incidence, disease severity and recurrence, which could be utilized to guide clinical practice.