Dyslipidemia is associated with progressive infarction in anterior circulation single subcortical infarction patients.

BACKGROUND: The predictors of progressive infarction (PI) in patients with anterior circulation single subcortical infarction (ACSSI) and pontine single infarction (PSI) may be different. Our study aims to evaluate the association between various lipid markers and PI in patients with ACSSI or PSI.

METHODS: A total of 629 patients (546 patients diagnosed as ACSSI and 83 patients diagnosed as PSI) were retrospectively enrolled between January 2020 and October 2022. Seven lipid markers including total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I), apolipoprotein B (ApoB) and lipoprotein(a) were collected within 24 h after admission.

RESULTS: There were 119 patients with PI, accounting for 18.9% of the total. Univariate analysis showed that the levels of TC, TG, LDL-c, and ApoB in total patients with PI were higher than those in patients without PI (P < 0.05), while there were no significant differences in HDL-c, ApoA-I, and lipoprotein(a) (P > 0.05). In branch atheromatous disease patients, TC, TG, and ApoA-I were independently associated with PI after adjusting some confounding factors. Additionally, multivariate logistic regression analysis of the infarct location subgroup demonstrated TG and LDL-c were related to PI in patients with ACSSI (P < 0.05) but not in patients with PSI. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic curves were established to compare the predictive abilities of TC, TG, LDL-c, and ApoB, and demonstrated TG was a better indicator to predict PI in ACSSI patients compared to other lipid markers.

CONCLUSION: TG and LDL-c are associated with progressive infarction in patients with ACSSI, and TG was a superior predictor for PI compared to other lipid markers.