Unravelling the Role of Plasma Fibrinogen in Acute Stroke

Abstract

Background: A stroke is described as a sudden neurological deficit with a focused vascular origin. Atrial fibrillation, carotid stenosis, myocardial infarction, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, obesity, smoking and atrial myxomas are all risk factors for stroke. Stroke mortality in urban India accounts for 1% of all hospital admissions, 4% of all medical cases, and around 20% of all central nervous system illnesses. Diabetes, hypertension, smoking, and hyperlipidaemia are risk factors for stroke and have been linked to alterations in haematology and coagulation, including elevated fibrinogen levels. Methodology: The present case-control study was conducted among 50 cases of acute stroke and 50 controls without stroke history. Plasma fibrinogen of 50 consecutive patients with acute stroke presenting to the OPD/Casualty or getting admitted to Shri Ram Murti Smark Institute of Medical Sciences was compared with 50 controls who is not suffering from stroke. An unpaired t-test was applied to compare the mean fibrinogen level of the two groups. For statistical significance p value less than 0.05 was taken with 95% confidence interval. Result: fibrinogen level among the control group (267.0±98) was low compared to patients with overall stroke (428.8±97.8), either ischemic (470±80.5) or haemorrhagic stroke (387.6±97.6). Conclusion: Patients with Ischemic Stroke having a mean Fibrinogen level of (508.8 mg/dL ± 74.6) and haemorrhagic stroke with 487.5±66 mean fibrinogen level had the worst outcome. There was a significant difference in mean fibrinogen levels among survival and non-survival groups of patients in ischemic and haemorrhagic stroke.

Keywords

• Case-control study
• Fibrinogen
• Haemorrhagic stroke
• Ischemic stroke