Association Of Lipids With Ischemic Stroke

Increased blood cholesterol levels are causally related to an increasing risk of coronary heart disease(CHD).In contrast,the relation between total cholesterol levels and the risk of stroke remains unclear because of the conflicting results reported in the literature.In the secondary prevention,reduction of the risk of recurrent ischemic stroke might be expected with statins if a correlation can be established between hyperlipidemia and ischemic stroke or some specific ischemic stroke/TIA subtypes.Purpose:To evaluate the association of lipids and the risk of ischemic stroke,and its stroke subtypes.Material and Methods:We evaluated the levels of total cholesterol(TC),triglyce rides(TG),low density lipoprotein(LDL) and high density lipoproteins(HDL) in 516 patients with ischemic stroke and 131 controls.With TOAST criteria,we also evaluated lipids in stroke subtypes.Results:1.Compared with controls,the HDL level was significantly lower and the TC/HDL ratio was significantly higher.The differences among other components of lipids were not significant.2.There were 66 patients with large artery atherosclerosis(LAA),19 patients with cardioaortic embolism(CE),32 patients with small artery occlusion(SAO).The level of HDL was significantly lower in LAA,CE and SAO.The TC/HDL ratio in them was significantly higher than that of controls.And there was a trend of higher levels of TC,TG and LDL in atherosclerosis group(including LAA and SAO) compared with controls.Conclusion:1.The reduced protection resulted from the lower level of HDL may be one of the reasons for the attack of ischemic stroke.2.TC,TG and LDL may have a direct impact on the occurrence of atherosclerosis ischemic stroke3.There was no correlation between lipids and unatherosclerosis stroke.4.The TC/HDL ratio can be taken as one of the measures for the interrelationship between abnormal lipids and ischemic stroke.5.Further researches on lipids and stroke should be conducted with a larger pool of samples on the basis of stroke classifications.