Anticardiolipin antibodies in acute non-hemorrhagic stroke seen within six hours after onset.

Introduction: We have undertaken a prospective study to measure anticardiolipin antibodies of IgG isotype within the first few hours of an acute non-hemorrhagic stroke.

Material And Methods: We have collected blood samples at entry from one hundred patients (53 men and 47 women), mean age 67.4 years, referred within 6 h of a first-ever non-hemorrhagic stroke, and from an equal number of age- and gender-matched control patients.

Results: IgG anticardiolipin antibodies were > or = 10 GPL in 26 patients and in 5 controls (p < 0.0001, X2 test). After logistic regression analysis, increase of IgG anticardiolipin antibodies remained independently associated with stroke (p = 0.0034), together with hypertension (p = 0.0009) and atrial fibrillation (p = 0.0238).

Conclusion: Our data suggest that the occurrence of elevation of IgG anticardiolipin antibodies in stroke patients should antedate stroke onset and might be a risk factor per se.