Correlation of serum calcium with severity of acute ischaemic stroke

Objective: to determine the correlation of serum calcium with severity of acute ischaemic stroke. methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted at the khyber teaching hospital,peshawar,pakistan,from january to september 2013,and comprised patients who had suffered ischaemic stroke. all patients aged above 18 years who had been diagnosed to have suffered ischaemic stroke through history,physical examination and computed tomography scan,and who were admitted within the first 72 hours of the onset of the illness were included. serum calcium was obtained within 78 hours of the onset of stroke and the severity of stroke was assessed at the same time using the national institute of health stroke score. results: of the 138 patients,71(51.4%) were women and 67(48.6%) men. the overall mean age was 61.09±11.93 years (range: 34-100 years). the mean national institute of health stroke score was 17.77±7.73 (range: 2-35). serum calcium of all patients was measured and adjusted for serum albumin level. the mean serum calcium level was 8.82±0.69 mg/dl (range: 6.84-10.48). bivariate correlation was calculated for continuous data of serum calcium and national institute of health stroke score. the overall pearson’s correlation coefficient was r= -0.237 (p=0.005). conclusion: lower serum calcium levels may be associated with more severe clinical findings at the onset of stroke. © 2017,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.