Prospective study of anticardiolipin antibodies in stroke.

Over 2 years, 104 patients underwent clinical evaluation and laboratory screening for the presence of abnormal anticardiolipin antibodies to determine the profile of laboratory and clinical findings in patients with stroke and other neurologic disorders. Seven with incomplete or ambiguous data were excluded; of the remaining 97 patients, 31 were greater than or equal to 65 years old. Nine patients suffered systemic lupus erythematosus, 45 suffered brain ischemia, and 43 suffered other nonischemic neurologic disorders. Cardiac arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, and cardiac valvulopathy were grounds for exclusion. The presence of anticardiolipin antibodies was not influenced by age. In the 88 patients without lupus, anticardiolipin antibodies were significantly more common in the group suffering brain ischemia than in the group with nonischemic neurologic disorders (29% versus 5%, p less than 0.01, chi 2 test). These controlled data demonstrate an association between the presence of circulating anticardiolipin antibodies with stroke, but not with other neurologic conditions.