J Neurocrit Care.  2019 Dec;12(2):85-91. 10.18700/jnc.190092.

Prior antithrombotic use is significantly associated with decreased blood viscosity within 24 hours of symptom onset in patients with acute ischemic stroke

• Park JH
• Kim JY
• Baik JS
• Park JH
• Nam HS
• Han SW

• KMID: 2470469
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.18700/jnc.190092

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Blood viscosity (BV) is the intrinsic resistance of blood to flow and is a measure of blood stickiness. Several clinical and epidemiologic studies have demonstrated an association between BV and the occurrence of major thromboembolic events. Although BV is significantly higher in cases of lacunar or cardioembolic strokes, its relationship with demographic and laboratory parameters during the acute stage of ischemic stroke is unknown. We investigated the relationship between baseline characteristics of acute ischemic stroke and BV within 24 hours of symptom onset in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
METHODS
We enrolled patients aged 40 years or older with documented histories of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack within 24 hours of symptom onset. A scanning capillary-tube viscometer was used to assess whole BV.
RESULTS
The mean age was 69.6±12.03 years and 44.4% of the patients were female. Of 189 patients, 68.3% had a history of hypertension; 27%, diabetes; 42.9%, hypercholesterolemia; 3.7%, coronary artery disease; and 18%, stroke. Additionally, 40.7% were current smokers. Sixty-one patients (32.3%) were regularly taking antithrombotics. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that hematocrit was positively corelated with increased BV and prior antithrombotic use was corelated with decreased BV. Hematocrit-adjusted partial correlation demonstrated that prior antithrombotic use was significantly associated with decreased BV.
CONCLUSION
Prior antithrombotic use is significantly associated with decreased BV within 24 hours of symptom onset in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Our findings indicate that antithrombotic medications may change the hemorheological profile in these patients.

Keyword

Aspirin; Blood viscosity; Hematocrit; Blood platelets; Stroke

MeSH Terms

Aspirin
Blood Platelets
Blood Viscosity*
Coronary Artery Disease
Epidemiologic Studies
Female
Hematocrit
Humans
Hypercholesterolemia
Hypertension
Ischemic Attack, Transient
Linear Models
Stroke*
Aspirin

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Trial profile. TIA, transient ischemic attack.

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  Fig. 2. (A, B) Scatterplots of the relationship between prior antithrombotic use and blood viscosity (BV). Hematocrit-adjusted partial correlation shows that prior antithrombotic use is significantly associated with decreased systolic and diastolic whole BV (r=–0.227, P=0.014 vs. r=–0.231, P=0.013). cP, centipoise; r, Pearson’s partial correlation coefficient.

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