• HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Saturday, January 23, 2021
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • BIOENGINEERING
    • SCIENCE NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • FORUM
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Immunology

Stroke patients with COVID-19 have increased inflammation, stroke severity and death

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
September 18, 2020
in Immunology
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

This study of ischemic stroke patients is the first to associate the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in patients with COVID-19 and ischemic stroke and stroke severity.

IMAGE

Credit: UAB

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Stroke patients who also have COVID-19 showed increased systemic inflammation, a more serious stroke severity and a much higher rate of death, compared to stroke patients who did not have COVID-19, according to University of Alabama at Birmingham research led by Chen Lin, M.D., an assistant professor in the UAB Department of Neurology.

The research, published in the journal Brain, Behavior & Immunity – Health, is a retrospective, observational, cross-sectional study of 60 ischemic stroke patients admitted to UAB Hospital between late March and early May 2020. Ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel for the brain is blocked by a clot, depriving some brain tissue of oxygen. All patients were tested for COVID-19 at admission.

The UAB researchers mined electronic medical records of confirmed stroke cases for information on age, gender and race; clinical variables; laboratory data, including complete blood counts, blood chemistry and coagulation tests; and outcomes, including death, length of hospital stay and condition at discharge.

The ratio of the number of neutrophils to the number of lymphocytes, or the NLR, as calculated from blood count data, served as an index of the systemic inflammatory response. While other researchers have associated NLR with COVID-19 disease severity, refractory disease and even as an independent factor for mortality, “our study is the first to associate the NLR in patients with COVID-19 and ischemic stroke and stroke severity,” Lin said.

Of the 60 hospitalized patients with acute systemic stroke, nine were positive for a COVID-19 infection.

The UAB research had four major findings. First, patients who were positive for COVID-19 presented with a more severe neurological deficit at admission, as measured by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, or NIHSS, score, which averaged 18.4. Second, all patients with an NIHSS score higher than 4 — including uninfected patients — had a significantly higher NLR than those with lower scores. The NIHSS is used to predict lesion size and gauge stroke severity.

Third, patients with COVID-19 had an increased inflammatory response, including significantly higher neutrophil counts, lower lymphocyte counts and an increased NLR, compared with uninfected patients. Finally, stroke patients with COVID-19 had a significantly higher mortality
rate — 44.4 percent, versus 7.6 percent for uninfected stroke patients.

Two other studies this year have reported clinical and laboratory differences in ischemic stroke patients with and without COVID-19, Lin says, but neither addressed racial differences or NLR differences between groups.

“We have reported the first experience within the ‘Stroke Belt’ of the Southern United States, which has the highest proportion of African American stroke patients,” said Lin, who is also the director of the Stroke Recovery Clinic in the UAB Division of Cerebrovascular Disease. In the UAB study, African Americans comprised 55.6 percent of those who had COVID-19 and stroke and 37.7 percent of those with only stroke.

“Interestingly, in our patients with stroke and COVID-19, the neutrophil and lymphocyte levels were only borderline high and low, respectively,” Lin said, “yet the NLR was almost twice as high as in patients without COVID-19. This potentially indicates that the systemic inflammatory response triggered by COVID-19 can cascade from multiple components.”

###

Co-authors with Lin for the study, “Racial differences and an increased systemic inflammatory response are seen in patients with COVID-19 and ischemic stroke,” are Yurany A. Arevalo, UAB Department of Neurology; Hely D. Nanavati, Department of Epidemiology, UAB School of Public Health; and Diana M. Lin, UAB Department of Pathology.

About UAB

Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a part of the University of Alabama System, is an internationally renowned research university and academic medical center, as well as Alabama’s largest employer, with some 23,000 employees, and has an annual economic impact exceeding $7 billion on the state. The pillars of UAB’s mission include education, research, innovation and economic development, community engagement, and patient care. Learn more at http://www.uab.edu.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham is one of three doctoral research universities in the University of Alabama System. In your first reference to our institution, please use University of Alabama at Birmingham and UAB on subsequent references.

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/UAB.edu TEXT: http://www.uab.edu/news TWEETS: http://www.twitter.com/uabnews

VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/uabnews

Media Contact
Jeff Hansen
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.uab.edu/news/research/item/11563-stroke-patients-with-covid-19-have-increased-inflammation-stroke-severity-and-death

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbih.2020.100137

Tags: Critical Care/Emergency MedicineHematologyInfectious/Emerging DiseasesMedicine/HealthneurobiologyStroke
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

IMAGE

COVID-19 infection in immunodeficient patient cured by infusing convalescent plasma

January 21, 2021
IMAGE

The immune system mounts a lasting defense after recovery from COVID-19

January 21, 2021

Hope for a vaccination against Staphylococcus areus infections?

January 21, 2021

Estrogen receptors in mom’s placenta critical during viral infection

January 21, 2021
Next Post
IMAGE

Nano-microscope gives first direct observation of the magnetic properties of 2D materials

IMAGE

SUTD researchers develop simple method to 3D print milk products

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

POPULAR NEWS

  • IMAGE

    The map of nuclear deformation takes the form of a mountain landscape

    54 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14
  • People living with HIV face premature heart disease and barriers to care

    65 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • New drug form may help treat osteoporosis, calcium-related disorders

    40 shares
    Share 16 Tweet 10
  • New findings help explain how COVID-19 overpowers the immune system

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Tags

Technology/Engineering/Computer ScienceBiologyClimate ChangePublic HealthMaterialsInfectious/Emerging DiseasesMedicine/HealthcancerGeneticsCell BiologyEcology/EnvironmentChemistry/Physics/Materials Sciences

Recent Posts

  • Regulating the ribosomal RNA production line
  • A professor from RUDN University developed new liquid crystals
  • New technique builds super-hard metals from nanoparticles
  • No more needles for diagnostic tests?
  • Contact Us

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

© 2019 Bioengineer.org - Biotechnology news by Science Magazine - Scienmag.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In