Objective: To investigate the relationship between white blood cell count, neutrophils ratio and erythrocyte sedimentation rate and short outcomes among patients with acute ischemic stroke at admission to the hospital.
Methods: A total of 2675 acute ischemic stroke patients were included in this study. Data on demographic characteristics, life style, history of disease, white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophils ratio (NEUR), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and clinical outcomes were collected for all the participants. Poor clinical outcome was defined as neurologic deficiency (NIHSS ≥ 5) at discharge or death during hospitalization.
Results: White blood cell count, neutrophils ratio and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were higher in patients with poor outcome than in those without clinical outcome. According to the quartile range, WBC, NEUR and ESR were divided into four levels at admission. After adjustment for multivariate, compared with WBC ≤ 5.6× 10(9)/L, the odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) of poor outcome with ≥ 8.7×10(9)/L was 1.883 (1.306 - 2.716). When compared with NEUR ≤ 0.56, the odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) of poor outcome with 0.57 - 0.64 and with ≥ 0.74 were 1.572 (1.002 - 2.466) and 2.577 (1.698 - 3.910), respectively. When compared with ESR ≤ 4 mm/h, the odds ratio (95% confidence intervals) of poor outcome with ≥ 17 mm/h was 2.426 (1.233 - 4.776). Elevated WBC count and NEUR at admission were significantly and positively associated with poor clinical outcomes among patients with acute ischemic stroke (trend test P < 0.05). Elevated ESR was not significantly or positively associated with poor clinical outcomes among patients with acute ischemic stroke (trend test P > 0.05).
Conclusion: There appeared associations between WBC, NEUR, ESR and poor outcome among patients with acute ischemic stroke at admission to the hospital. Both elevated WBC count and NEUR showed significantly positive association with poor clinical outcomes among patients with acute ischemic stroke at admission.