Prooxidant-antioxidant balance in stroke patients and 6-month prognosis.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress is thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of stroke. METHODS: In the present study, we assessed the extent of oxidative stress in the sera of 120 patients in the first 24 hours after the onset of stroke and 80 healthy control subjects using a novel assay of prooxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB) that can measure the prooxidant burden and the antioxidant capacity simultaneously in one assay, thereby giving a redox index. RESULTS: In stroke patients median serum PAB values were significantly higher than that of the control group [125.50 (103.36 - 151.80) vs 43.40 (29.77 - 77.01), p < 0.001]. However, no significant difference was observed between subgroups of patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA), cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage (p > 0.05). Median Serum PAB values were not significantly different in patients with different outcomes based on their 6-month prognosis (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that serum PAB values are elevated in patients with stroke, indicating a heightened state of oxidative stress, but do not distinguish between stroke types or predict 6-month prognosis.