Association of Serum Galectin-3 with Risks of Death and Vascular Events in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients: the Role of Hyperglycemia.

Background and purposeWhether the association between galectin-3 and stroke outcome is modified by fasting plasma glucose (FPG) is unknown. The aim was to evaluate the prognostic effect of galectin-3 amongst ischaemic stroke patients stratified by FPG. MethodsIn all, 3082 ischaemic stroke patients were included in this study and serum galectin-3 was tested at baseline. The primary outcome was a composite outcome of death and vascular events, and secondary outcomes were death, stroke recurrence and vascular events within 1 year after stroke. ResultsIncreased galectin-3 was significantly associated with the primary outcome, stroke recurrence and vascular events in the patients with hyperglycemia but not in those with normoglycemia (P for interaction<0.05 for all). The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) were 1.72 (1.05-2.84), 2.64 (1.14-6.12) and 2.68 (1.33-5.38) for the primary outcome, stroke recurrence and vascular events, respectively. A linear association between galectin-3 and the primary outcome was observed in hyperglycemic patients (P for linearity=0.007). ConclusionIncreased galectin-3 was associated with the primary outcome, stroke recurrence and vascular events within 1 year after stroke in the patients with hyperglycemia, suggesting that galectin-3 may be an important prognostic factor for ischaemic stroke patients with hyperglycemia.