Objective To investigate the relationship betw een the serum bilirubin level and the severity of disease and short-term outcome in patient w ith acute ischemic stroke. Methods A total of 120 consecutive inpatients w ith acute ischemic stroke w ere enroled and 105 healthy subjects at the same time w ere used as a control group. The biochemical indicators, such as serum total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, blood lipid, and blood glucose w ere measured w ithin 24 h after admission. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale ( NIHSS ) w as used to assess the neurological deficits on the day of admission. The NIHSS score <8 w as defined as mild stroke and ≥8 w as defined as moderate to severe stroke. At discharge or 14 d after onset, the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) w as used to evaluate the clinical outcomes, 0-2 w as defined as good outcome and > 2 w as defined as poor outcome. The levels of serum total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, and indirect bilirubin w ere measured again. Results The levels of serum total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, and indirect bilirubin in the moderate to severe stroke group w ere significantly higher than those in the mild stroke group ( P <0.01) and the control group ( P <0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis show ed that the increased levels of serum total bilirubin (odds ratio [OR] 1.855,95%confidence interval [CI] 1.390-2.475; P <0.01), indirect bilirubin ( OR 3.380, 95%CI 1.271-11.901; P <0.05), and direct bilirubin ( OR 3.51, 95%CI 1.062-11.473; P <0.01) had significantly independent correlation w ith baseline disease severity. Univariate analysis show ed that the increased serum total bilirubin level on admission w as associated w ith the short-term poor outcome ( P <0.05), but after adjustment for other confounding factors, there w as no statistical significance ( OR 2.411, 95%CI 0.803-7.243, P >0.05). Conclusions The serum bilirubin level show ed stress increase in patients w ith cerebral infarction in acute phase; and it w as significantly associated w ith the degree of neurological deficit, but it w as not associated w ith short-term outcome. It might be a defense response to the body for stroke events.

Objective To investigate the correlations of serum cystatin C level with severity of stroke and short-term outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke.Methods Patients with first-ever acute ischemic stroke aged ≥50 years who did not receive thrombolysis and took a visit within 3 d after onset were selected prospectively.The serum cystatin C level was detected within 24 h after admission and various clinical data were collected.The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to assess the neurological deficits on the day of admission.The NIHSS score ＜8 was defined as mild stroke and ≥8 was defined as moderate to severe stroke.The modified Rankin Scale (mRS) was used to evaluate the short-term outcome at discharge or 14 d after onset,0-2 was defined as good outcome and ＞2 was defined as poor outcome.Results A total of 188 patients were enrolled,including 93 (49.5％) females and 95 (50.5％) males,their mean age was 65.4 ±9.2 years old (range 50-87).There were 120 patients with mild stroke (63.8％),68 with moderate to severe stroke (36.2％);106 patients (56.4％) had good outcome and 82 (43.6％) had poor outcome.Univariate analysis showed that serum cystatin C level in the moderate to severe stroke group was significantly higher than that in the mild stroke group (1.36 ± 0.29 mg/L vs.1.21 ±0.23 mg/L;t =3.902,P ＜ 0.001),the serum cystatin C level in the poor outcome group was significantly higher than that in the good outcome group (1.38 ± 0.25 mg/L vs.1.22 ± 0.25 mg/L;t =4.101,P =0.001).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the serum cystatin C level was an independent risk factor for stroke severity (odds ratio 12.182,95％ confidence interval 11.163-13.202;P ＜ 0.001) and short-term poor outcome (odds ratio 9.025,95 ％ confidence interval 8.202-9.848;P ＜ 0.001).Conclusion The serum cystatin C level is significantly correlated with the severity of stroke and the short-term outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke.