title: Serum cholesterol levels do not influence outcome or recovery in acute ischemic stroke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the influence of admission serum cholesterol levels (SCL) on severity of initial neurological deficit, neurological outcome at month 3 and neurological recovery in patients with acute first-ever ischemic stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospectively collected data from 889 consecutive patients with first-ever acute ischemic stroke were retrospectively analysed. Patients who suffered a recurrent ischemic stroke (n=22) or died (n=30) during the follow-up period were excluded from this study. Age, gender, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking, stroke etiology, SCL and severity of neurological deficit, using the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), at presentation (NIHSS0) and after 3 months (NIHSS1), were assessed. Neurological recovery was defined as difference in NIHSS score (Delta(NIHSS)), according to Delta(NIHSS)=NIHSS0 - NIHSS1.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data from 837 patients (66% men, age: 62 +/- 14 years) were analysed. NIHSS1 was 2.3 +/- 1.8 and Delta(NIHSS) was 3.4 +/- 3. Clinically insignificant correlations between SCL and NIHSS0 (r=-0.13, p=0.0002), NIHSS1 (r=-0.09, p=0.001) and Delta(NIHSS) (r=-0.1, p=0.03) were evident. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis revealed smoking (p=0.008), stroke etiology (p=0.023) and NIHSS0 (p<0.001) but not age, gender, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus or SCL as predictors for Delta(NIHSS).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that SCL in patients with acute ischemic stroke are not associated with neurological deficit on admission, outcome or neurological recovery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland. hc.vonbuedingen@usz.ch
authors.forename: Hans-Christian
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: von Büdingen
authors.forename: Ralf W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
authors.forename: Christian R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Baumann
authors.forename: Valentin
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rousson
authors.forename: Adrian M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Siegel
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Georgiadis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000097:blood* / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D002784:Cholesterol