IMPROVEMENT OF CLINICAL OUTCOMES FOLLOWING FOLIC ACID THERAPY ON ISCHEMIC STROKE PATIENTS

Abstract

Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke, caused by an obstruction in the cerebral arteries, leading to neurological impairment. The use of neuroprotective agents such as folic acid has the potential to improve patient outcomes; however, comparative data on their effectiveness remains limited. This study aims to determine the clinical outcomes for ischemic stroke patients through folic acid therapy. This study employed a retrospective cohort design using medical records of ischemic stroke patients at X Hospital Yogyakarta between January 2020 and December 2024. Involving 105 patients were included as subjects on this study. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test is used to analyze how folic acid affected the clinical results in GCS scores. The majority of patients were male (70.5%) and aged ≥60 years (69.5%). All patients had comorbidities (100%). Most patients had initial GCS scores of 14–15, which improved after recieved folic acid therapy (35.2%). The Wilcoxon Signed Rank test showed a significant impact between pre and post GCS score with an average change in GCS score was 1.54 ± 2.67 and p-value 0.000 (p<0.05). There is a significant effect of folic acid therapy on GCS score, with a notable difference observed between pre- and post- treatment ischemic stroke patients. The average of GCS score difference during treatment was 1.54 ± 2.67, and the p-value was 0.000 (p<0.05). This highlights is folic acid can be used as a neuroprotector for ischemic stroke patient especially on JKN patients.