Background: Vascular dysfunction and brain inflammation are thought to contribute to the pathophysiology of cerebral injury in acute stroke. However acute inflammation and vascular dysfunction may simply be markers of an acute phase response to cerebral injury, reflecting the size of the cerebral lesion. We aimed to determine if systemic markers of vascular dysfunction and inflammation are independently associated with concentrations of the astroglial protein S100B, a marker of brain injury, in participants with acute ischaemic stroke.
Methods: Fifty-seven men and women recruited within 96 hours of acute ischaemic stroke at two tertiary hospitals participated in this cross sectional observational study. Clinical, imaging (stroke lesions area measured with perfusion CT) and laboratory data were the independent variables and co-variates. The outcome variable was serum S100B concentration, analysed by multivariate regression.
Results: High sensitivity-CRP (B = 0.41) and lesion area (B = 0.69) were independently associated with S100B concentration (R2 = 0.75, p < 0.01). Other variables with significant univariate associations with S100B concentration were not independently associated with S100B concentration in the final multivariate model.
Conclusion: The degree of systemic inflammation is associated with S100B concentration in acute ischaemic stroke, independent of the size of the ischaemic lesion.