Abstract
Authors:
Faisal Alamri, Seraj Makkawi, Hussain Alqahtani, Amer Alali, Abdullah Alharbi, Maan almaghrabi, Nouf Alghamdi, Esra Aldabbagh, Yahya Samman, Omar Albaradie, Anhar Bawashkhah, Saeed Alghamdi, Muhammad Alsalmi.
Background (objectives):
Stroke is the most common neurological condition globally, with significant rates of mortality and disability. Many studies focused on vitamin D as a risk factor, but only a limited number of studies focused on vitamin D as a predictor of stroke severity. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and stroke clinical severity.
Methodology:
A retrospective cohort study was conducted in 2021 in King Abdulaziz Medical City-Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 774 ischemic stroke patients were screened over the last five years. However, the study enrolled only 372 patients who have their vitamin D baseline level measured. The National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was assessed at admission to predict stroke clinical severity. The association between vitamin D level and stroke severity was assessed using multivariate logistic regression model.
Results:
Out of 372 participants, 11% , 22.1%, 66.9% had normal, insufficient, and deficient 25(OH)D serum levels, respectively. The mean age was 68.8 ±12.4 years, and 52.2% were male. The majority of patients (66,9%) had moderate NIHSS. The correlation coefficient test showed a significant inverse relationship between 25(OH)D serum level and NIHSS score (r=-0.117 p-value 0.024). After adjustment of the potential covariates, the study found that the relationship between deficient 25(OH)D serum level and NIHSS score has further strengthened with an OR (CI) for severe NIHSS 3.8 (1.2-4.7) P-value =0.001.
Conclusion:
Our finding adds to the evidence that vitamin D is a predictor of stroke clinical severity at admission. Limitation: The limitations of this study should be mentioned, NIHSS was calculated using admission notes only.