High concentrations of visfatin in the peripheral blood of patients with acute basal ganglia hemorrhage are associated with poor outcome.

Higher plasma visfatin concentration has been associated with clinical outcomes of traumatic brain injury. No published information exists to date about change in plasma visfatin after intracerebral hemorrhage. This study included one hundred and twenty-eight healthy controls and 128 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. The unfavorable outcome was defined as modified Rankin Scale score >2 at 6 months. The patients had higher plasma visfatin measurements than control subjects. Plasma visfatin levels were highly correlated with National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score and plasma C-reactive protein levels in the patients. A multivariate analysis identified plasma visfatin level as an independent predictor for 6-month mortality and unfavorable outcome. According to receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the predictive value of the plasma visfatin concentration was similar to National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score. In a combined logistic-regression model, visfatin improved the predictive value of National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score for 6-month unfavorable outcome. Thus, increased plasma visfatin level is associated with 6-month clinical outcomes after intracerebral hemorrhage.