Association of serum osteoprotegerin levels with stroke subtypes and severity in patients with acute ischemic stroke / 中华神经医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the serum osteoprotegerin (OPG) levels in patients with acute ischemic stroke and evaluate the relation of serum OPG levels with stroke severity,focus size and stroke subtypes according to TOAST criteria.Methods The study consisted of 62 patients with acute cerebral infarction (patient group) and 40 control subjects (control group),collected in our hospital from August 2010 to January 2011.The patient group was sub-divided into large artery atherosclerotic stroke (LAA) group (n=26) and small artery occlusive or lacunar stroke (SAA) group (n=36) in terms of TOAST criteria.Clinical data and examination results were collected.Serum OPG levels were measured with enzyme linked immunoadsorbent assay (ELISA).Results Serum OPG levels in patients with acute ischemic stroke were significantly higher than those in control subjects (P＜0.05); Logistic regression analysis showed that hypertension (P=0.004) and serum OPG levels (P=0.002) exhibited significant correlations with presence of acute cerebral infarction; serum OPG levels were correlated with NIHSS scores (r=0.658,P=0.000) and maximum diameter of the focus (r=0.487,P=0.010) in ischemic stroke group; serum OPG levels in LAA subgroup were significantly higher than those in SAA subgroup and control group (P＜0.05),and there was no significant difference of serum OPG levels between SAA subgroup and control group (P=0.086).Conclusions Serum OPG levels may play roles in presence of acute ischemic stroke as independent risk factors.OPG levels are related to the severity of illness and focus size,and especially associated with LAA stroke subtype.