You should reduce levels of cholesterol and triglycerides as much as possible, right? Well, in terms of stroke, that advice may go too far.

Low triglyceride levels are associated with increased stroke severity, according to results of a study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke.

A previous study had linked low triglycerides with higher mortality after stroke. In the current study, Dr. Tomasz Dziedzic and colleagues from Jagiellonian University, in Krakow, Poland, studied 863 consecutive patients with acute stroke caused by blockage of blood supply to the brain.

The team measured triglyceride levels within 36 hours after stroke onset, and used the Scandinavian Stroke Scale (SSS) to assess stroke severity when patients were admitted to the hospital. The patients were put into one of two groups: those with severe stroke (SSS score of 25 or less) and those with mild-to-moderate stroke (SSS higher than 25).

Compared to patients with mild/moderate stroke, those with severe stroke had significantly lower levels of serum triglyceride, the investigators report.

After making adjustments for various other factors that affect stroke risk, the team found that the risk of severe stroke was 42% lower for patients with triglyceride levels higher than 2.3 millimoles per liter than for those with levels below this.

The researchers note that the biological mechanisms responsible for this association remain unknown. While low triglyceride levels can reflect poor nutritional status, they note, malnutrition did not explain stroke severity.

“Therefore, we believe that alternative explanations focusing on potentially neuroprotective properties of cholesterol should be considered,” Dziedzic and colleagues conclude.

SOURCE: Stroke, June 2004.