Effects of Serum Cholesterol on Severity of Stroke and Dosage of Statins on Functional Outcome in Acute Ischemic Stroke

Abstract

Background: A high dose of statin is used to obtain an intensive lipid-lowering in stroke patients, even in patients with normal lipid levels. There are limited data on effect of dosage of statins and functional outcome in stroke patients.

Objectives: To compare serum cholesterol levels with severity of stroke measured by infarct volume. To compare functional outcome measured by mRS at day 90 with the dose of statin.

Materials and methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted in KMC Hospital Manipal, India between 2016 and 2018.

Result: A total of 100 consecutive patients were included in the study, out of which 60 (60.0%) were males. Hyperlipidemia was present in 65 (65.0%) patients. On comparing the serum cholesterol levels with infarct volume using MRI, patients with low volume of ≤70 ml had higher mean serum total cholesterol concentration (223.83 mg/dl), whereas patients with high volume of >70 ml had low mean cholesterol level (218.70 mg/dl). The patients were divided into those who received low dose (≤20 mg) versus high dose (≥40 mg equivalent) of Atorvastatin. On comparing the mRS values at baseline and on day 90 with the dose of statins, patients who received a higher dosage had a statistically significant fall in mRS (p-0.045) at day 90.

Conclusion: It was found that serum cholesterol levels were inversely related to the stroke severity. However, a higher the dose of statins resulted in better functional outcome and survival in post-stroke patients, possibly due to its neuroprotective effect.

Keywords: Functional outcome; ischemic stroke; serum cholesterol levels; statins.