The association of systemic inflammatory response index and neutrophil-to-high-density lipoprotein ratio mediated by fasting blood glucose with 90-day prognosis in acute ischemic stroke patients

Abstract

Background and purpose: The contribution of individual and combined inflammatory markers for the prognosis of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) remains elusive. This study investigated the effect of systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI), and neutrophil to high-density lipoprotein ratio (NHR), which is mediated by fasting blood glucose (FBG), on 90-day prognosis of patients with AIS.

Methods: In this pre-specified substudy of an observational cohort study, 2828 patients with AIS were enrolled from the Nanjing Stroke Registry between January 2017 to July 2021. Peripheral venous blood was collected from patients fasting for at least 8 hours within 24 hours of admission to gather information on the following parameters: neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, monocyte count, HDL level, and fasting blood glucose level. Then, the SIRI and NHR values were calculated. Following this, the correlation among SIRI, NHR, and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores 90d after onset was examined via univariate and multivariate logistic analyses. Lastly, mediation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between systematic inflammatory response and study outcomes mediated by FBG.

Results: SIRI and NHR were both negatively correlated with clinical outcomes (p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that SIRI and NHR were independently associated with poor outcomes after adjusting for potential confounders. Subgroup analyses further validated these correlations. Meanwhile, mediation analysis corroborated that FBG partially mediated the associations between SIRI and a poor prognosis at 90d (indirect effect estimate = 0.0038, bootstrap 95% CI 0.001 to 0.008; direct effect estimate = 0.1719, bootstrap 95% CI 0.1258 to 0.2179). Besides, FBG also played a mediating role between NHR and poor outcomes (indirect effect estimate = 0.0066, bootstrap 95% CI 0.002 to 0.120; direct effect estimate = 0.1308, bootstrap 95% CI 0.0934 to 0.1681).

Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that SIRI and NHR are positively associated with poor clinical and mortality outcomes at 90d in AIS patients, which was partially mediated by FBG.