Serum Uric Acid Level and Intraventricular Hemorrhage in Patients with Acute Hemorrhagic Stroke: A Retrospective Observational Study

In contrast to experimental studies indicating the neuroprotective role of uric acid (UA), recent clinical studies have shown that increased UA is associated with a risk of acute hemorrhagic stroke. However, the association of UA with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) has not been adequately evaluated. In this study, we determined the relationship between UA and IVH in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We included 721 patients with ICH who were admitted to a tertiary hospital in South Korea. The patients were stratified into quartiles based on their UA levels. IVH decreased continuously across all quartiles of UA. After adjusting for confounding factors, the odds ratio (OR) for IVH was significantly lower in the fourth quartile compared with that in the first quartile (OR: 0.713; 95% CI: 0.546-0.934; <i>P</i>=0.045). In conclusion, UA is independently associated with IVH, suggesting its protective role against IVH in patients with ICH.