C-reactive protein (CRP) and other risk factors in acute Ischemic Stroke patients

Introduction: stroke is a common cause of mortality and morbidity in developing countries; stroke is second leading cause of death after cardiac disease worldwide. apart from established major risk factors for ischemic stroke (is) i.e.; hypertension,diabetes mellitus,smoking & hyperlipidemia,a burning but still debatable issue is raised serum c - reactive protein (crp),that is also thought to be the major risk factor for acute is due to participation in formation of atherosclerosis in the cerebral vessels in genetically prone patients. objective of study: to find out significance of serum levels of crp among ct scan proved acute ischemic stroke patients. study design & place: this is a prospective observational study was conducted at department of medicine,liaquat university of medical & health sciences,jamshoro/hyderabad from july 2009 to june 2010. data collection: patients meeting the inclusion criteria were enrolled in this study after obtaining informed consent,and were evaluated thoroughly for c reactive protein and other risk factors. all the selected cases were investigated for; complete blood count,urine detail report,ct scan brain plain,serum c-reactive protein (crp) level,fasting & random blood sugar,fasting lipid profile ecg & x-ray chest pa view. the data was collected on a predesigned proforma designed for this study. results: out of 150 selected adult cases of ct scan proved ischemic stroke,male were 120 (80 %) & female were 30 (20 %). male to female ratio was 4:1. their ages were between 20-80 years. among these patients high level of crp (> 10mg / l) was found in 132 (88 %). out of these male were 110 (73.3 %) & that of female were 22 (14.7%) respectively. frequency of other major risk factors in male & female is patients was also observed. conclusion: a close relationship between high level of crp and acute is was found,because in acute is patients high levels of crp was observed but again it needs further studies high sample size to establish the c reactive protein as a independent risk factor for acute ischemic stroke.