ACUTE ISCHEMIC STROKE

Objectives: Objective of this study is to assess the correlation between severityof ischemic stroke on NIHSS and calcium level in patients presented with acute ischemic stroke.Study Design: Descriptive case series and non-probability purposive sampling technique wasused in this study. Setting: South Medical ward& East Medical Ward, Department of Medicine,Mayo hospital, Lahore. Period: One year from 5th January 2015 to 4th January 2016. Material &Methods: Informed consent was taken from all the patients. Patients of both genders between35-70 years of age were included in this study. Demographic record (name, age, sex, contact)were also obtained. Then patients were admitted in ward and were followed up there. Meanwhileno calcium supplement was advised. Then after 72 hours of admission, blood sample weredrawn by using 5cc BD syringe and were sent to the laboratory of the hospital to assess serumcalcium level. NIHSS score after 72 hours of admission were assessed and noted. Pearsoncorrelation coefficient was calculated to measure the correlation between calcium level andNIHSS score. P-value≤0.05 were considered as significant. Results: In this present studythe mean age of the patients was noted as 51.47±9.653 years, the male patients were 76%whereas female patients were 24%. The mean serum calcium level after 72 hours of the patientswas noted as 7.26±1.41 mg/dl, while the man NIHSS was noted as 23.01±10.38.There wasnegative and Significant correlation was found between the serum calcium level (mg/dl) after72 hours and NIHSS after 72 hours of the patients i.e. r=-0.899 (P<0.05). Conclusion: Ourstudy results showed the negative correlation between the serum calcium level and NIHSS ofischemic stroke patients which showed that more decrease in calcium level will lead to moresevere condition of stroke.