Prognostic significance of admission levels of cardiac indicators in patients with acute ischaemic stroke: prospective observational study.

Objective: The performance of cardiac indicators as determinants of stroke outcomes remains debatable, therefore the present study focused on the short-term prognostic value of cardiac indicators in patients who had experienced acute ischaemic stroke. Methods: Consecutive patients with acute ischaemic stroke were enrolled in a prospective stroke registry. Data on demographics, clinical characteristics and cardiac indicator levels (including troponin I, creatine kinase-MB, myoglobin and brain natriuretic peptide) were prospectively collected. Receiver operating characteristic curves and binary logistic regression models were used to examine the performance of variables in predicting poor functional outcomes (modified Rankin Scale score 2-6). Results: Out of 337 patients with acute ischaemic stroke, myoglobin had the greatest power for predicting poor outcomes among the cardiac indicators. Forward stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that myoglobin could independently predict short-term outcomes. Spearman's rank correlation tests indicated a positive correlation between myoglobin levels and stroke severity. Conclusions: Among cardiac indicators, myoglobin may be an independent predictor of short-term outcomes in patients with acute ischaemic stroke.