ACUTE ISCHEMIC STROKE

CORRELATION BETWEEN HIGHER TOTAL CHOLESTEROL LEVEL AND HIGH BARTHEL INDEX SCORE IN PATIENTS

Abstract

Among all deaths, 40-50% are due to vascular events and out of these 10% are
due to stroke. More than 66% of the global stroke occurrence is in developing countries, where
the average age of patients with stroke is 15 years less than in developed countries. Objectives:
To determine the correlation between higher total cholesterol level and high Barthel Index
score(estimate of functional daily independent activity level) in patients with acute ischemic
stroke. Design: Cross sectional study. Period: May 2013 to Apr 2014. Setting: Medical Units of
DHQ and Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. Methodology: Sample size of 200 patients was collected
and patients were included through Consecutive (non-probability) sampling technique. All
patients underwent CT scan Brain from the radiology department of the hospital to determine
the respective changes (hypo dense area) of the ischemic stroke. Fasting serum cholesterol
was measured in all patients after an overnight fast of 12 hours. Then patients were assessed by
using Barthel Index score (BI). The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 16.0. Spearman
Rank correlation coefficient was calculated to BI score in patients with ischemic stroke. Results:
The mean age of the patients was noted as 61.76±11.55 years. In this study 55.50% were
males and 44.50% patients were females. The mean total cholesterol value of patients was
noted as 251.58±71.15 mg/dl. Out of 200 patients, 111(55.5%) patients had high cholesterol
(>200mg/dl) whereas 89(44.5%) patient had low cholesterol of(<200mg/dl).In statical analysis
the results showed that the mean value of total Barthel index score was 57.50±19.52. The study
results described that 51.50% patients had high Barthel index score (>53) whereas 48.50%
patients had low Barthel index score (<53). Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated
between high TC and high BI score as r= 0.641. This value was statistically significant i.e.
p-value=0.000*. Conclusions: With the help of this study, we found a significant positive
relationship between high TC and high BI score in patients presented with ischemic stroke.
Now we can better prognosticate the functional outcome of ischemic stroke in our patients.