Table 4.
Biomarker Values, Stratified by Study Group
| Biomarkera | Cancer-Plus-Stroke (n=50) |
Stroke-Only (n=50) |
Cancer-Only (n=50) |
P-value Across Groupsb,c |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coagulation | ||||
| D-dimer | 2,552 (830–6,640) | 405 (204–740) | 670 (400–1,730) | <0.001 |
| TAT | 20 (4–34) | 6 (2–28) | 4 (1–12) | <0.001 |
| Platelets | ||||
| P-selectin | 40 (28–62) | 26 (21–33) | 34 (27–45) | <0.001 |
| Endothelium | ||||
| Thrombomodulin | 5,310 (4,222–5,117) | 3,712 (3,097–4,371) | 4,081 (3,214–5,117) | <0.001 |
| sICAM-1 | 244 (204–388) | 176 (137–205) | 224 (182–264) | <0.001 |
| sVCAM-1 | 1,075 (803–1,564) | 705 (585–933) | 888 (611–1,053) | <0.001 |
| Embolic disease | ||||
| TCD HITS present | 16 (32) | 8 (16) | 3 (6) | 0.004 |
Abbreviations: TAT, thrombin-antithrombin; sICAM-1, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1; sVCAM-1, soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1; TCD, transcranial Doppler; HITS, high-intensity transient signals.
Data reported as number (%) for categorical variables and median (interquartile range) for continuous variables. Units of measure for hematological biomarkers are ng/ml, except thrombomodulin which is listed as pg/ml.
Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to determine whether median hematological biomarker levels were different between the three groups, while the Chi-square test was used to determine whether the proportion of participants with TCD HITS were different between the three groups. The listed p-values correspond to these analyses.
Between-group comparisons performed using the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test for the hematological biomarkers and the Chi-square test for the embolic disease biomarker were also all significant except for TAT when comparing the cancer-plus-stroke group to the stroke-only group (p=0.063) and P-selectin when comparing the cancer-plus-stroke group to the cancer-only group (p=0.062). These analyses’ individual P-values are not provided in the Table.