Is elevated serum homocysteine in isolated ischemic cranial nerve palsies a predictor of stroke?

Table 1 Elevated levels of serum homocysteine in patients with and without systemic illness, n (%)

Age (years)	No systemic illness			With systemic illness
	Elevated	Normal	Fisher's exact test P value	Elevated	Normal	Fisher's exact test P value
> 40	12 (63.2)	7 (36.8)	1.00	20 (50)	20 (50)	1.00
≤ 40	4 (66.7)	2 (33.3)		1 (100)	0
Total	16	9		21	20

Table 2 Percentage distribution of cranial nerves, n (%)

Cranial nerve	Normal homocysteine level	Elevated homocysteine level	Total	Fisher's exact test P value
3	5 (50)	5 (50)	10	0.65
4	6 (54.5)	5 (45.5)	11
6	18 (40)	27 (60)	45

Table 3 Comparison of serum homocysteine in patients with and without systemic risk factors aged below and above 40 years, mean ± SD

Age	Risk factors	Homocysteine	Wilcoxon rank-sum (Mann-whitney) test
< 40 years	No systemic risk factors (n = 6)	13.9 ± 4.3	0.5714
	With systemic risk factors (n = 1)	18.9
> 40 years	No systemic risk factors (n = 19)	20.9 ± 11.5	0.0359
	With systemic risk factor (n = 40)	14.7 ± 5.1