The predictive value of thyroid hormone levels on the neurological outcomes of patients with acute ischemic stroke

Abstract

Objective To explore the correlation between thyroid hormone levels in patients with acute ischemic stroke and the severity of disease and short-term prognosis. Methods According to the level of serum total triiodothyronine (TT₃), 98 patients who presented first acute ischemic stroke and without history of thyroid abnormality were divided into low TT₃ group and normal TT₃ group. Thyroid hormone levels and neurological function defect of those patients were tested, and their neural functional recovery after 3 months was evaluated.  Results Low TT₃ group had more severe neural function defect compared to normal TT₃ group (χ² = 58.134, P = 0.000). There were no significant differences on total thyroxine (TT₄; t = 1.636, P = 0.105) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH; t = 1.059, P = 0.292) between 2 groups. There was a significantly negative correlation between TT₃ levels and National Insititute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score on admission (r = -0.672, P = 0.000). Patients with low TT₃ showed a significantly smaller percentage of neurological function improvement on both NIHSS ( χ² = 8.993, P = 0.003) and modified Rankin Scale (mRS; χ² = 6.247, P = 0.012) scores compared to those with normal TT₃ at 90 d after onset.  Conclusions Low T₃ level is associated with the severity of acute ischemic stroke and neural functional recovery, suggesting serum T₃ level may be a predictor of neural function improvement in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2015.02.009