Association of Gut Microbiota-Dependent Metabolite Trimethylamine N-Oxide with First Ischemic Stroke

Aim: We aimed to investigate the relationship of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) concentrations with ischemic stroke in a large-scale case-control study conducted among the hospital-based general population.

Methods: We recruited 953 case-control sex- and age-matched pairs, and cases were confined to first acute ischemic stroke in this study. Fasting plasma TMAO was measured using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy. Conditional logistic regression analysis was conducted to calculate odds ratios (OR) for the association of plasma TMAO with ischemic stroke.

Results: We found that plasma TMAO concentrations in patients with ischemic stroke were significantly higher than that in the control group (median: 2.85 µmol/L vs. 2.33 µmol/L, P＜0.001). In multivariable conditional logistic regression models, higher plasma TMAO concentrations were associated with increased odds of ischemic stroke [fully adjusted OR for highest vs. lowest TMAO quartile: 1.81; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.27, 2.59; P for trend ＜0.001]. The multivariable-adjusted OR for ischemic stroke per 1 µmol/L increment of plasma TMAO was 1.05 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.08). Additionally, the positive association also persisted in subgroups stratified by age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol habits, history of diabetes, and history of hypertension.

Conclusions: This study suggested a positive association between plasma TMAO and ischemic stroke. Further studies are required to explore the role of plasma TMAO concentrations in predicting stroke risk.

Keywords: Case–control study; Ischemic stroke; Trimethylamine N-oxide.