C Reactive Protein And Neurological Function And Cognition

Purpose: To investigate the correlation between serum C reactive protein(CRP) and the neurological disability and cognitive impairment after acutestroke.METHODS: Totally 76 patients with first ever stroke consecutively selectedfrom the Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of KunmingMedical College were assessed by using the neuropsycholocal tests and theneurological scale at two or three weeks and three months later respectivelyfrom July 2006 to October 2006. Serum CRP was measured within 24 to 72 hoursafter acute stroke, a cutoff of 10mg/L for CRPwas used to devided all the patientsinto two groups: subjet group with CRP＞10mg/L which consisted of 35 cases andcontrol group with CRP≤10mg/L which consisted of 41 cases.RESULTS: In contrast to the control group, the subjet group performed worsein the neuropsycholocal tests at 2 or 3 weeks(P＜0.01), so did in the neurologicalscale (P＜0.01). The neuropsycholocal scores of the subjet group are all worsethan the control group after 3 months (P＜0.05), while only the BI of which judgesneurological function is lower (P＜0.01). Both groups have higher scores inWCST, TMT, MMSE, SSS, BI and MRS after 3 months (P＜0.01) than during 2 to 3weeks. Except for MMSE, The defference of the extent of the two group improvedin cognitive function scores is not significant(P＞0.05), but it is significantin the neurological function scale(P＜0.05).CONCLUSION: For the patients after acute stroke, the cognitive impairmentand neurological defects are correlated with the level of CRP, and the patients with higher CRP level have worse cognitive impairment and neurologicaldefects. There is some improvement after 3 months vs at 2 or 3 weeks. When CRPlevel is abnormal, the progress of cognitive function of the patients is affectedby CRP.