Is there a correlation between hs-CRP levels andfunctional outcome of Ischemic Stroke?

Objective: c-reactive protein, a well known marker of inflammation is being investigated as a probable marker of predicting acute cardiovascular events and its severity. the aim of the present study was to assess the possible role of highly-sensitivity c-reactive protein (hs-crp) in predicting short-term functional outcome of ischemic stroke.methodology: a prospective study was conducted on subjects admitted with first attack of confirmed ischemic stroke. it included 50 male and 52 female. serum hs-crp was measured in the 2nd (crp-d2) and 5th days (crp-d5) post-stroke. modified rankin scale (mrs) was measured in all subjects in the 2nd (mrs-d2), 5th days (mrs-d5) and also 3 month (mrs-m3) after stroke to assess the short-term functional outcome and mortality of subjects.results: the mean age of the patients was 71.75±11.44 years. the mortality rate was 47.1% in the third months after stroke. there was no significant correlation between crp-d2 and mrs-m3 and also between crp-d5 and mrs-m3 (p > 0.05). however there was a significant association between high crp-d2 (crp > 3) and mrs-m3 and also between high crp-d5 and mrs-m3 (p < 0.005).conclusion: this study showed that the value of crp by itself could not predict the severity of short-term functional disability and it might not be useful as a clinical tool for predicting outcome