People who have just suffered their first ischemic stroke, a blood clot in the brain, often have elevated inflammatory biomarkers in their blood that indicate their likelihood of having another stroke or an increased risk of dying, according to Columbia University Medical Center researchers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Published in the Oct. 23 Archives of Internal Medicine, results indicate that these inflammatory markers are associated with long-term prognosis after a first stroke, and may help guide clinical care for people who have suffered a first stroke.
A biomarker called lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), which has been FDA-approved to predict the risk of first stroke, was found to be a strong predictor of recurrent stroke risk. Researchers also found that elevated levels of another biomarker called high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), a test commonly used to predict risk of heart disease, was associated with more severe strokes and an increased risk of mortality.