Association Between Hyperuricemia and Acute Ischemic Stroke in Patients at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Introduction Stroke is the most debilitating of neurologic diseases. The rationale of the current study was to determine the association between hyperuricemia and ischemic stroke to establish a local perspective. Methods A total of 148 patients at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study and then equally distributed into two study groups consisting of cases and controls (n = 74 in each group). In this study, there were 36 (48.6%) participants in the case group with hyperuricemia and ischemic stroke and 18 (24.3%) participants in the control group with hyperuricemia. The mean and standard deviations were computed for quantitative variables such as age, body mass index (BMI), and duration of stroke. Frequencies and percentages for the qualitative variables such as gender, hypertension, type 2 diabetes (T2D), dyslipidemia, smoking status, socioeconomic status, educational level, and hyperuricemia were calculated. The chi-square test was applied to compare both groups, with p ≤ 0.05 indicating significance. The odds ratio was also calculated to determine the association between case and control. Effect modifiers were controlled through stratification of age, gender, BMI, duration of stroke, hypertension, T2D, dyslipidemia, socioeconomic status, educational level, and smoking status to determine the effect of these on outcome variables. A post-stratification chi-square test was applied, with p ≤ 0.05 indicating statistical significance. Results In our study, stratification of hyperuricemia into cases and controls was performed for age, gender, T2D, hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking status, socioeconomic status, and educational status. The maximum results were significant, with high strength of association between both groups. In the case group, the frequency of elevated uric acid was significantly higher than that of the control group. A comparison of hyperuricemia indicated p = 0.002, with an odds ratio of 2.95, which showed that elevated uric acid could be taken as a predictor of ischemic stroke. The uric acid level was significantly higher in men than in women. Additionally, hyperuricemia was associated with dyslipidemia. In patients with ischemic stroke, there was a significant association between serum uric acid level and T2D, hypertension, and smoking. Conclusions This study showed that the prevalence of hyperuricemia in patients with ischemic stroke was significantly higher as compared to the healthy population. Hyperuricemia can be considered as a risk factor for ischemic stroke because of its high prevalence in ischemic stroke patients. Our study explored the relationship between stroke and hyperuricemia and enabled increased understanding for caregivers so that effective management plans can be formulated for patients with ischemic stroke to prevent adverse outcomes.