Interleukin-6 as Predictor of One-Year Cognitive Function After Ischemic Stroke or TIA

Yu Wang; Jiejie Li; Yuesong Pan; Mengxing Wang; Jinxi Lin; Xia Meng; Xiaoling Liao; Yongjun Wang

doi:10.2147/NDT.S348409

Interleukin-6 as Predictor of One-Year Cognitive Function After Ischemic Stroke or TIA

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2022 Feb 22:18:391-399. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S348409. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yu Wang^#^{1

2}, Jiejie Li^#^{1

2}, Yuesong Pan^{1

2}, Mengxing Wang^{1

2}, Jinxi Lin^{1

2}, Xia Meng^{1

2}, Xiaoling Liao^{1

2}, Yongjun Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
² China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
³ Research Unit of Artificial Intelligence in Cerebrovascular Disease, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background and purpose: The relationship between inflammatory markers and cognitive decline in a poststroke setting is still unclear. We aimed to investigate the association between interleukin-6 (IL-6) and cognitive decline after acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA).

Methods: In this prespecified prospective substudy of the Impairment of CognitiON and Sleep after acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack in Chinese patients (ICONS) study, a total of 1003 patients with baseline IL-6 levels and completed standard 3-month and 1-year cognitive function evaluation were included. Cognitive decline was defined according to a reduction of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) ≥2 between 3 months and one year. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association.

Results: Totally, 238 (23.73%) patients had post-stroke cognitive decline at one year. IL-6 levels were classified into four groups according to their quartile. Patients in the highest quartile of IL-6 level had higher risk of cognitive decline than those in the first quartile (25.90% vs 16.80%, adjusted OR, 1.95; 95% CI, 1.13-3.38, P = 0.0167), after adjusting for potential risk factors.

Conclusion: Elevated IL-6 levels were independently associated with reduction of Montreal Cognitive Assessment after ischemic stroke and TIA.

Keywords: biomarker; cognitive decline; inflammation; stroke; transient ischemic attack.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Capital's Funds for Health Improvement and Research (2020-1-2041), grants from Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (2019-I2M-5-029), grant from National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC1312903), grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81870905, U20A20358), grants from Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission (D171100003017002, Z181100001818001).