Background and Purpose: Vitamin-D deficiency is common across all age groups and may contribute to cardiovascular diseases. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin-D deficiency causing acute arterial stroke has been documented in recent reports. Aim: To investigate the levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin-D in acute arterial stroke and association of 25-hydroxyvitamin-D deficiency with severity of acute arterial stroke at presentation. Methods: A total of 344 consecutive acute arterial stroke patients and 87 controls attending the Department of Neurology, at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati, India, from April 2015 to October 2016 were enrolled into the study. Stroke severity was assessed at admission by using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score and ICH score. 25-hydroxyvitamin-D levels were measured by chemiluminescence test. Serum calcium, phosphorus, alkaline phosphatase, and parathyroid hormone were also measured in both cases and controls. Results: Out of 344 stroke patients, 218 (63.4%) were men and mean age was 58.01 ± 13.8 years (age range: 15– 90 years). 25-hydroxyvitamin-D deficiency was observed in 156 (45.3%) stroke patients and 31 (35.6%) controls (p < 0.0001). Among stroke patients, 25-hydroxyvitamin-D deficiency in ischemic stroke patients were 109/251 (43.4%) and haemorrhagic stroke patients were 47/93 (50.5%) respectively. Among stroke patients, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin-D levels reduced with increasing severity of stroke as defined by the NIHSS score and ICH score. Conclusions: We found that 25-hydroxyvitamin-D deficiency had an independent association with acute arterial stroke. Increasing severity of stroke showing low Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin-D levels.

Keywords: Acute arterial stroke; 25-hydroxyvitamin-D; Stroke; South-India.