Previously unknown thyroid dysfunction in patients with acute ischemic stroke Acta Neurologica Scandinavica, 05/04/2012

Bengtsson D et al. – In patients with first–time acute ischemic stroke, unknown thyroid dysfunction is common, and unknown overt or subclinical hyperthyroidism is associated with cardio–embolic stroke.

• A total of 153 Swedish patients diagnosed with first-time acute ischemic stroke were included in the study and categorized for suspected cardio-embolic (n = 30) or non-embolic (n = 123) ischemic stroke depending on the presence of atrial fibrillation (AF).
• Blood samples were taken 48 h or earlier after onset of stroke symptoms.

• Previously, unknown overt or subclinical thyroid dysfunction was found in 12%.
• Previously, unknown overt or subclinical hyperthyroidism was more common in the AF group (13%) compared to the non-AF group (3%), P = 0.048.
• Patients with AF had slightly higher concentrations of free T4 (15 vs 14 pm; P < 0.001), but there was no significant difference in concentrations of S-TSH or prevalence of thyroperoxidase (TPO) antibodies between the groups.