Associations between serum thyroid-stimulating hormone levels and outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation between the serum thyroid-stimulating hormone levels and the outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Methods Patients with acute ischemic stroke were enrolled prospectively. The general clinical data, vascular risk factors, and biochemical indexes including thyroid hormones were collected. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to evaluate the severity of baseline neurologic deficit. The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) was used to evaluate the neurological outcomes at day 90 after onset. The mRS 0-2 was defined as good outcome. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the independent influencing factors of the poor outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Results A total of 140 patients with acute ischemic stroke were enrolled, including 95 men (67.86%) and 45 women (32.14%), aged 35-94 years old. Thirteen patients (9.29%) had subclinical hyperthyroidism and 17 (12.14%) had subclinical hypothyroidism. Ninety-eight patients (70.00%) had good outcome and 42 (30.00%) had poor outcome. The proportions of male (χ2=4.717, P=0.047) and small arterial occlusive stroke (χ2=5.564, P=0.018), as well as uric acid (t=2.602, P=0.010), FT3 (t=2.406, P=0.017), and TSH (t=2.302, P=0.023) in the good outcome group were significantly higher than those in the poor group (P=0.001); age (t=-3.489, P=0.001), fasting blood glucose (Z= -2.178, P=0.031), and baseline NIHSS score (t=-8.009, P 2.476 mU/L) was significantly higher than the poor outcome group (30.61% vs. 11.90%; χ2=5.488, P=0.002). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that after adjusting various confounding factors, the higher baseline NIHSS score was an independent risk factor for poor outcome at day 90 after onset (odds ratio, 1.690, 95% confidence interval 1.317-2.168; P<0.001), while the higher baseline TSH level was associated with good outcome (odds ratio, 0.520, 95% confidence interval 0.408-0.867; P=0.007). Conclusions The higher serum TSH level was independently associated with good neurological outcome at day 90 after onset in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Key words: Stroke; Brain Ischemia; Thyrotropin; Hypothyroidism; Thyroid Diseases; Prognosis