Significantly Reduced Alanine Aminotransferase Level Increases All-Cause Mortality Rate in the Elderly after Ischemic Stroke

Low serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels are associated with poor outcomes in acute ischemic stroke patients regardless of age

Studies have indicated that reduced serum ALT levels are commonly linked to aging and are known to predict poor outcomes in many clinical conditions as potential frailty indicators. There are close connections between the brain and peripheral organs, particularly the liver. In patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS), the interactive effects may change ALT levels, which in turn influence stroke outcomes. Whether ALT has potential neuroprotective effects or is an indicator of frailty in AIS patients remains unknown. This retrospective analysis examined 572 AIS patients in Beijing Luhe Hospital between August 2020 and June 2021. Patient demographics and laboratory results were assembled. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to analyze stroke severity. Modified Rankin Score (mRS) determined stroke outcome 3 months after AIS, with mRS≤2 indicating a favorable outcome. Based on serum ALT measurements, patients were classified into three tertiles (T1-T3). Binary logistic regression analysis evaluated the correlation between ALT tertiles and AIS outcomes. Of the patients, 66 exhibited unfavorable outcomes. The median ALT level in this group was 13 (IQR: 11-18.25), which was lower than in the favorable outcomes cohort (16; IQR: 11-22). A decline in ALT corresponded with a higher incidence of poor outcomes at 3 months (T1, 15.5 %; T2, 11.4 %; T3, 7.0 %; p = 0.03). The lowest ALT tertile (T1) was independently linked to an adverse 3-month outcome (OR 2.50 95 %CI 1.24-5.07, p = 0.038) compared to the highest tertile. ALT levels demonstrated no correlation with age (T1, 62.59 ± 12.64; T2, 64.01 ± 11.47; T3, 65.12 ± 11.27; p > 0.05). Regardless of age, lower serum ALT levels are independently associated with poorer outcomes in AIS patients. This finding suggests the potential pivotal part of the liver in AIS outcomes, highlighting the need to consider both neurological and liver functions post-stroke.

CNS-LAND score: predicting early neurological deterioration after intravenous thrombolysis based on systemic responses and injury

Importance

Early neurological deterioration (END) is a critical complication in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients receiving intravenous thrombolysis (IVT), with a need for reliable prediction tools to guide clinical interventions.

Objective

This study aimed to develop and validate a rating scale, utilizing clinical variables and multisystem laboratory evaluation, to predict END after IVT.

Design setting and participants

The Clinical Trial of Revascularization Treatment for Acute Ischemic Stroke (TRAIS) cohort enrolled consecutive AIS patients from 14 stroke centers in China (Jan 2018 to Jun 2022).

Outcomes

END defined as NIHSS score increase >4 points or death within 24 h of stroke onset.

Results

1,213 patients (751 in the derivation cohort, 462 in the validation cohort) were included. The CNS-LAND score, a 9-point scale comprising seven variables (CK-MB, NIHSS score, systolic blood pressure, LDH, ALT, neutrophil, and D-dimer), demonstrated excellent differentiation of END (derivation cohort C statistic: 0.862; 95% CI: 0.796-0.928) and successful external validation (validation cohort C statistic: 0.851; 95% CI: 0.814-0.882). Risk stratification showed END risks of 2.1% vs. 29.5% (derivation cohort) and 2.6% vs. 31.2% (validation cohort) for scores 0-3 and 4-9, respectively.

Conclusion

CNS-LAND score is a reliable predictor of END risk in AIS patients receiving IVT.

Liver function test indices-based prediction model for post-stroke depression: a multicenter, retrospective study

BACKGROUND

Post-stroke depression (PSD) was one of the most prevalent and serious neuropsychiatric effects after stroke. Nevertheless, the association between liver function test indices and PSD remains elusive, and there is a lack of effective prediction tools. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between the liver function test indices and PSD, and construct a prediction model for PSD.

METHODS

All patients were selected from seven medical institutions of Chongqing Medical University from 2015 to 2021. Variables including demographic characteristics and liver function test indices were collected from the hospital electronic medical record system. Univariate analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and logistic regression analysis were used to screen the predictors. Subsequently, logistic regression, random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT), categorical boosting (CatBoost) and support vector machine (SVM) were adopted to build the prediction model. Furthermore, a series of evaluation indicators such as area under curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, F1 were used to assess the performance of the prediction model.

RESULTS

A total of 464 PSD and 1621 stroke patients met the inclusion criteria. Six liver function test items, namely AST, ALT, TBA, TBil, TP, ALB/GLB, were closely associated with PSD, and included for the construction of the prediction model. In the test set, logistic regression model owns the AUC of 0.697. Compared with the other four machine learning models, the GBDT model has the best predictive performance (F1 = 0.498, AUC = 0.761) and was chosen to establish the prediction tool.

CONCLUSIONS

The prediction model constructed using these six predictors with GBDT algorithm displayed a promising prediction ability, which could be used for the participating hospital units or individuals by mobile phone or computer.

Extremely Low Activity of Serum Alanine Aminotransferase Is Associated with Long-Term Overall-Cause Mortality in the Elderly Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention after Acute Coronary Syndrome

Background and Objectives: Recent studies revealed that the extremely low activity of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is associated with frailty and contributes to increased mortality after acute physical stress. We aimed to investigate whether the extremely low activity of serum ALT (<10 U/L) at the time of diagnosis can be used to predict overall-cause mortality in elderly patients that underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) after acute coronary syndrome (ACS) diagnosis. Materials and Methods: A retrospective medical record review was performed on 1597 patients diagnosed with ACS who underwent PCI at a single university hospital from February 2014 to March 2020. The associations between the extremely low activity of serum ALT and mortality were assessed using a stepwise Cox regression (forward: conditional). Results: A total of 210 elderly patients were analyzed in this study. The number of deaths was 64 (30.5%), the mean survival time was 25.0 ± 18.9 months, and the mean age was 76.9 ± 7.6 years. The mean door-to-PCI time was 74.0 ± 20.9 min. The results of stepwise Cox regression analysis showed that the extremely low activity of serum ALT (adjusted hazard ratio: 5.157, 95% confidence interval: 3.001-8.862, p < 0.001) was the independent risk factor for long-term overall-cause mortality in the elderly who underwent PCI after ACS diagnosis. Conclusions: The extremely low activity of serum ALT at ACS diagnosis is a significant risk factor for increased long-term overall-cause mortality in the elderly who underwent PCI after ACS diagnosis. It is noteworthy that a simple laboratory test at the time of diagnosis was found to be a significant risk factor for mortality.

Serum Bilirubin Associated with Stroke Severity and Prognosis: Preliminary Findings on Liver Function after Acute Ischemic Stroke

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates relationships between serum bilirubin, stroke severity, and prognosis of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) to elucidate the roles of the liver in AIS.

METHODS

This retrospective study collected data from 527 patients diagnosed with AIS within 24 hours after their symptom onset. Stroke severity was assessed using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Mild stroke was defined as NIHSS≤5. Prognosis was assessed with modified Rankin Scale (mRS) on 90 days after AIS and good prognosis was defined as mRS≤2. The patients were divided based on their total bilirubin (Tbil) and direct bilirubin (Dbil) levels to study these serum markers' association with the severity of stroke. Tbil levels were measured and compared with mRS on 90 days to analyze prognosis of mild stroke patients.

RESULTS

Both Tbil abnormal (NIHSS = 6.8 ± 5.3) and Dbil abnormal groups (NIHSS = 7.3 ± 5.7) had higher NIHSS scores on admission than the normal groups (p< 0.05 or p< 0.01, respectively). Severity of stroke at discharge was similar between these groups (p = 0.025 and 0.019, respectively). Serum bilirubin levels were independently associated with stroke severity on admission and discharge after risk factors were adjusted (p< 0.001 and p< 0.05, respectively; β (95%CI) were 0.116 (0.064-0.167) and 0.058 (0.012-0.103), respectively). The average Tbil levels of mild stroke with good prognosis was 15.1 ± 6.4umol/l versus 11.8 ± 3.1umol/l with poor prognosis; this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.003). The same difference was observed with Dtil levels but it did not reach a significant level.

CONCLUSION

High Tbil and Dbil level within 48 hours of symptom onset could be an independent marker of severity of stroke on admission and discharge for all AIS patients. For patient with mild stroke, elevation of bilirubin after AIS suggests a good prognosis. These findings imply that the liver play the key roles in the mechanism of AIS.

Association between alanine aminotransferase and all-cause mortality rate: Findings from a study on Japanese community-dwelling individuals

Background

This study examined the relationship between survival prognosis and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), a critical factor contributing to aging‐related health and mortality. The research is based on a follow‐up study with 6‐ and 10‐year intervals.

Methods

The participants included 1,610 males (63 ± 14 years old) and 2,074 females (65 ± 12 years old) who were part of the Nomura cohort study conducted in 2002 (first cohort) and 2014 (second cohort). The multivariable‐adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of death between the baseline health checkup and the end of the follow‐up periods were estimated using a Cox proportional hazards model, controlling for potential confounding factors.

Results

The follow‐up survey revealed 180 male deaths (11.2% of male participants) and 146 female deaths (7.0% of female participants). The univariate Cox regression analysis showed a significant increase in the HRs of all‐cause mortality with decreasing ALT levels (p < 0.001). Furthermore, compared with individuals with ALT levels of 20–29 IU/L, the multivariable‐adjusted HRs (95% confidence interval) for all‐cause mortality were 2.73 (1.59–4.70) for those with ALT levels <10 IU/L, 1.45 (1.05–2.00) for those with ALT levels of 10–19 IU/L, and 1.63 (1.05–2.53) for those with ALT levels ≥30 IU/L.

Conclusions

Our findings show that abnormally low ALT levels and high within the normal range were related to all‐cause mortality in Japan's community‐dwelling individuals. Especially, ALT activity may be an important biomarker for predicting the long‐term survival of older adults.

High Aspartate Aminotransferase/Alanine Aminotransferase Ratio May Be Associated with All-Cause Mortality in the Elderly: A Retrospective Cohort Study Using Artificial Intelligence and Conventional Analysis

Low serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity and high aspartate aminotransferase (AST)/ALT ratio may be associated with high mortality in the elderly. We aimed to confirm this in an 8-year retrospective cohort study. Clinical data for 5958 people living in a city aged 67−104 years were analyzed for their relationships with all-cause mortality using artificial intelligence (AI) and conventional statistical analysis. In total, 1413 (23.7%) participants died during the study. Auto-AI analysis with five rounds of cross-validation showed that AST/ALT ratio was the third-largest contributor to mortality, following age and sex. Serum albumin concentration and body mass index were the fourth- and fifth-largest contributors. However, when serum ALT and AST were individually considered in the same model, the individual serum ALT and AST activities were the seventh- and tenth-largest contributors. Conventional survival analysis showed that ALT, AST, and AST/ALT ratio as continuous variables were all associated with mortality (adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals): 0.98 (0.97−0.99), 1.02 (1.02−1.03), and 1.46 (1.32−1.62), respectively; all p < 0.0001). In conclusion, both AI and conventional analysis suggest that of the conventional biochemical markers, high AST/ALT ratio is most closely associated with all-cause mortality in the elderly.