Previous studies assessing the association between serum uric acid levels and neurological outcome after acute ischemic stroke reported conflicting results. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to assess the impact of serum uric acid levels on outcome after acute ischemic stroke. Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and Google scholar were searched through September 26, 2014 to identify eligible published or unpublished studies on the association between serum uric acid levels and outcome after acute ischemic stroke. Hazard ratio (HR) for poor outcome or mean differences of serum uric acid levels with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were pooled using meta-analysis. The primary outcome was occurrence of poor outcomes, while the secondary outcome was the mean differences of serum uric acid levels in patients with good or poor outcomes. Ten eligible studies with a total of 8131 acute ischemic stroke patients were included into the meta-analysis. Compared with low serum uric acid level, high serum uric acid level was associated better outcome after acute ischemic stroke (HR = 0.77, 95% CI 0.68-0.88, P = 0.0001). Sensitivity analysis further identified the prognostic role of serum uric acid levels on outcome after acute ischemic stroke. Patients with good outcomes had a higher serum uric acid level compared with those with poor outcome (mean difference = 30.61 μmol/L, 95% CI 20.13-41.08, P < 0.00001). There was no obvious risk of publication bias in the meta-analysis. This meta-analysis supports that serum uric acid level has a protective effect on neurological outcome after acute ischemic stroke. High uric acid level at the onset is a biomarker of better prognosis in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
Keywords: Outcomes; Stroke; Uric acid.