Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the association between Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and total homocysteine (tHcy) levels and examine the possible effect modifiers in patients with hemorrhagic stroke.
Methods: A total of 1,516 participants with hemorrhagic stroke and having the complete data on baseline GCS and tHcy measurements were included in the final analysis.
Results: The mean (SD) of age, tHcy, and GCS levels were 61.5 (11.3) years, 17.0 (10.3) μmol/L, and 13.9 (2.2), respectively. Compared with participants with severe damage (GCS <9), those with mild damage (GCS ≥13) had significantly lower transformed tHcy levels (β = -2.46; 95% CI -4.80 to -0.12). Consistently, a significantly lower transformed tHcy levels were found in participants with mild damage (GCS ≥13; β = -1.37; 95% CI -2.66 to -0.08) compared with those with moderate to severe damage (GCS <13). In the stratified analysis, a stronger inverse association between GCS categories (≥13 vs. <13) and tHcy concentrations was observed in ever smokers (vs. never; p for interaction = 0.045), and in participants with systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥160 mm Hg (vs. <160 mm Hg; p for interaction = 0.031), or total cholesterol (TC) ≥5.2 mmol/L (vs. <5.2 mmol/L; p for interaction = 0.025).
Conclusion: There was an inverse association between GCS level and tHcy concentration among patients with hemorrhagic stroke, especially in ever smokers or in participants with higher SBP or TC levels.
Keywords: Effect modifiers; Glasgow Coma Scale; Hemorrhagic stroke; Total homocysteine.
© 2019 S. Karger AG, Basel.