Serum Leptin Level and The Risk of Ischemic Stroke

Abstract

Background:Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is an acute neurological dysfunction due to focal cerebral
ischemia, which lasts <60 minutes with radiological evidence of infarction. Leptin is an adipokine
hormone, and it resembles pro-inflammatory cytokines in structure and function. Researchers suggested
the role of leptin in developing cardiovascular disease. Nevertheless, its effect as a stroke risk factor is
controversial. Therefore, we conducted this study to evaluate the association between serum leptin level
and the risk of AIS. Patients and Methods: We performed this study between September 2018 and
September 2019 . A total of 60 patients (19 male and 41 female)presented with a clinical diagnosis of
first-ever AIS were enrolled in the our study . All patients were assessed for risk factors, including
hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), body mass index (BMI), smoking, cardiac diseases,
hyperuricemia, and dyslipidemia. Thorough general and neurological examination .serum leptin levels
and routine laboratory tests were assessed. Neuro-imaging including CT brain were done for all patients.
We used the SPSS software e version 24.0 for statistical analysis. ResultsThe median leptin serum level
was 16.6 mg/l (IQR= 12.5-20). Of the included AIS patients, 80% had HTN, 66.7% were diabetic, 51.7%
were obese, 43.3% had cardiac disease, 31.7% were smokers, 33.3% had dyslipidemia, 33.3% had
hyperuricemia. 40% had early signs of middle cerebral artery infarction, while81.70% had an anterior
circulation infarction,51.70% of patients had a left-sided brain lesion. The large-sized infarctions were
more frequent (63.30%), followed by medium-sized infarctions (25%).There was a statistically significant
association between serum leptin level and DM, HTN, obesity, cardiac disease (all p<0.001), as
well as large-sized infarction (p-value= 0.02).Conclusion:Our study findings propose that high
levels of serum leptin level may be associated with first-ever stroke risk. Further multicenter
clinical trials are required to comprehensively assess leptin’s role in AIS and confirm this
association.