Association between Serum Uric Acid Levels and Stroke Severity in Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Ischemic stroke represents a significant global health burden. Studies have suggested a potential link between serum uric acid levels and stroke risk through mechanisms such as oxidative stress and inflammation. This study aimed to evaluate the association between serum uric acid levels and severity of acute ischemic stroke.

Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital from November 2020 to October 2021, after ethical approval (Reference no:1317/2078/79). The study included adults with acute ischemic stroke confirmed by neuroimaging within 7 days of presentation. The study excluded patients with hemorrhagic stroke, malignancies, those receiving chemotherapy, recent surgery or trauma and medications affecting serum uric acid level. Purposive sampling technique was used for data collection. Serum uric acid levels and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores were calculated to assess stroke severity. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25.0 was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to present the data. The association between serum uric acid levels and stroke severity was assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and p value <0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Out of 95 patients, 53 (55.79%) were males and 42 (44.21%) females. The mean serum uric acid was 5.18±1.48 mg/dl. Among them, 82 (86.31%) patients had serum uric acid level <6.8 mg/dl. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the association between serum uric acid level and NIHSS score. There was no statistically significant correlation between the two variables (r =
0.066, p = 0.525, n = 95).

Conclusions: This study found no statistically significant association between serum uric acid levels and ischemic stroke severity.