The Association Between Thyroid Autoantibodies And Intracranial Large Artery Stenosis (ILAS) In Young Ischemic Stroke Patients

ObjectivesPrior studies have elucidated tight relationship between thyroid diseases of various types and cerebrovascular disease. Our study aimed to investigate the association between thyroid autoantibodies and intracranial large artery stenosis in young stroke patients with apparent euthyroid states.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the first-onset ischemic stroke patients (age≤55) consecutively admitted to our department. Intracranial large artery stenosis (ILAS) was defined as a reduction of≥50%in luminal diameter of artery. We compared demographic profiles, risk factors, thyroid function test, and thyroid autoantibodies (Thyroperoxidase Antibody, TPOAb and Thyroglobulin Antibody, TGAb) between patients with ILAS and patients without ILAS. We also performed multivariate logistic regression analysis to evaluate the association between thyroid autoantibodies and ILAS. ResultsA total of351patients were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was47.0±7.7(range,10-55years) and252(71.8%) patients were male. We identified ILAS in121patients (34.5%). Patients with ILAS showed a higher frequency of elevated TPOAb levels in comparison with non-ILAS group (16.5%versus3.9%, p<0.001). After adjusting for covariates, the presence of elevated TPOAb levels (OR:5.318;95%CI:2.157-13.110, p<0.001), age (OR:1.037;95%CI:1.002-1.073, p=0.039) and atrial fibrillation (OR:0.091;95%CI:0.011-0.756, p=0.027) were independently associated with ILAS.ConclusionThyroid autoantibodies may be associated with the existing of intracranial large artery stenosis in young stroke patients, implying immunologic mechanism may play a role in the development of intracranial large artery stenosis.