Objective To investigate the relationship between the levels of serum homocysteine (Hcy), fibrinogen
(FIB), cystatin-C (Cys-C) and NIHSS at admission in patients with acute cerebral infarction.
Methods Patients with acute cerebral infarction admitted to Department of Neurology, Kangji
Xintu Hospital from January 2014 to November 2018 were retrospectively selected. According to
NIHSS score at admission, all the patients were divided into mild (NIHSS<7 points), moderate (7
points≤NIHSS<15 points) and severe stroke (NIHSS≥15 points) groups. The differences of serum
Hcy, FIB and Cys-c levels among the three groups were compared, and the relationship between
serum Hcy, FIB and Cys-c levels and NIHSS score were further evaluated by Spearman correlation
analysis.
Results A total of 4468 eligible patients were included, with the median age of 65.00 (IQR 65.00-
72.00) years and 2765 males (61.88%). Of all, 3943 (88.25%) cases were in mild stroke group,
441 (9.87%) in moderate stroke group and 84 (1.88%) in severe stroke group, The levels of Hcy
(P <0.001), FIB (P <0.001) and Cys-C (P =0.035) in three groups were significantly different and
the levels in mild stroke group were lower than that in moderate and severe stroke groups. The
correlation analysis showed that Hcy (r =0.770, P <0.001), FIB (r =0.440, P =0.003), Cys-C (r =0.580,
P <0.001) were positively correlated with NIHSS score at admission.
Conclusions Serum Hcy, FIB and Cys-C levels were positively correlated with NIHSS score at
admission in patients with acute cerebral infarction.
