In this study, we examined the association between serum uric acid levels and epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction. Clinical data including age, gender, epileptic seizure type, imaging, and serum uric acid levels before and after seizures in patients with cerebral infarction that were collected and analyzed. One hundred patients with cerebral infarction but without epilepsy, 147 patients with epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction, and 55 patients with status epilepticus secondary to cerebral infarction were recruited. Interestingly, epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction was associated with both reduced uric acid (adjusted OR 2.09; 95% CI 1.07-4.08) and increased uric acid (adjusted OR 4.05; 95% CI 1.99-8.25); however, status epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction was only associated with increased uric acid (adjusted OR 2.60; 95% CI 1.05-6.45). A U-shaped association between uric acid levels and seizures was observed by using a multivariable logistic regression model with restricted cubic spline. Serum uric acid levels are associated with both epilepsy secondary to cerebral infarction and status epilepticus secondary to cerebral infarction in patients with cerebral infarction. The appropriate intervention of serum uric acid level might be a therapeutic strategy to reduce epileptic seizures or inhibit the development of status epilepticus.
Keywords: Cerebral infarction; Epilepsy; Risk factor; Stroke; Uric acid.