Serum lipid levels and in-hospital mortality in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that low serum cholesterol and low serum triglyceride levels at admission are related to an increase of in-hospital mortality in patients with first-ever supratentorial spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).


METHODS
The authors obtained the serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels during the first 48 hours after first-ever ICH in 184 patients. They analyzed the impact of serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations on the in-hospital mortality after adjustment for possible confounding variables according to the results of the univariate analysis (age, hemorrhage volume, intraventricular extension, glycemia, serum albumin, and Glasgow Coma Scale score at admission) using the Cox proportional hazards model. They also analyzed the survival curves according to the cholesterol and triglyceride quartiles.


RESULTS
Low serum cholesterol (p = 0.002; hazard ratio [HR] 0.988 [95% CI 0.979 to 0.997] mg/dL) and low serum triglyceride (p = 0.011; HR 0.986 [95% CI 0.976 to 0.997] mg/dL) concentrations were independently associated with increased in-hospital mortality after ICH. Analyzed by quartiles, the HR of in-hospital mortality was 3.136 (95% CI 0.833 to 11.087) for patients in the lowest cholesterol quartile (< 166 mg/dL) and 3.484 (95% CI 1.088 to 11.155) for patients in the lowest triglyceride quartile (< 74 mg/dL).


CONCLUSIONS
Low serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels obtained during the first hours after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) are strong independent predictors of in-hospital mortality in patients with spontaneous supratentorial ICH.
Roquer
J
J
Department of Neurology, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain. 35826@imas.imim.es
Rodríguez Campello
A
A
Gomis
M
M
Ois
A
A
Munteis
E
E
Böhm
P
P
D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*; D015897:Comorbidity / Q000639:trends; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009026:Mortality; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*
D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol