Determining the diagnostic value of Serum Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) in patients with transient ischemic attack

Abstract

Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) is a blood biomarker candidate that indicates intracerebral hemorrhage in patients with symptoms suspected of acute stroke. However, little is known about the release of GFAP in other neurological disorders. The aim of this study is the determining the diagnostic value of serum Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) in patients with transient ischemic attack. Materials and Methods: This research was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study. In this study, the target population was TIA patients based on clinical and imaging findings who referred to the emergency department of medical centers affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (including Razi Hospital and Imam Reza Hospital) in 2024. The sample size in this study was 56 people, which included 28 patients in the healthy group as the control group and 28 people in the TIA group. The sampling method in this study was available. For the patients, the initial treatment was done according to the ASA guidelines and blood was taken from the patients, and there was no change in the treatment process of the patients. Then the blood sample was centrifuged and the patient's serum was stored in a refrigerator at -80 until the laboratory tests were performed. The serum level of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) was evaluated quantitatively using ELISA kit and compared between 2 groups. Results: In this study, the median (IQR) of GFAP in the case and control groups were ۴.۵۱ (۵.۷۱) and ۰.۹۱ (۱.۳۶), respectively. Among the demographic and background factors, age and GFAP variables were significantly higher in the case group than in the control group (P<0.001). Also, among the demographic and background variables, none of them showed a statistically significant difference between studied the two groups of inpatient and outpatient (P>0.05). In this study, serum GFAP levels had significant predictive power in TIA disease (AUC=0.829; P=0.003).