Patients who visited the outpatient department or were hospitalized in Rongxian Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January to December 2024 were selected. Inclusion criteria: Meeting the TIA diagnostic criteria revised by the Fourth National Conference on Cerebrovascular Diseases [4] , and excluding other brain diseases such as cerebral infarction by cranial CT or MRI; aged 18 years or older. Exclusion criteria: Suffering from diseases that may affect laboratory indicators, such as severe liver and kidney dysfunction, malignant tumors, blood system diseases, and autoimmune diseases; having a history of infection, trauma, or surgery in the past (within 1 month). Finally, TIA patients were set as the experimental group (n = 31), and healthy physical examination subjects were set as the control group (n = 50).

Early morning fasting venous blood of the two groups of patients was collected, and a fully automatic biochemical analyzer (Mindray BS2000) was used to detect indicators such as blood routine, liver function, kidney function, blood lipids, electrolytes, hemorheology, and blood glucose. Blood routine detection indicators include white blood cell count (WBC), neutrophil count (NEUT#), lymphocyte count (LYMPH#), red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), platelet count (PLT), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). Liver function detection indicators include total bilirubin (TBIL), direct bilirubin (DBIL), indirect bilirubin (IBIL), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), the ratio of AST to ALT (AST/ALT), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), globulin (GLO), the ratio of albumin to globulin (A/G), prealbumin (PA), total bile acid (TBA), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), and cholinesterase (CHE). Kidney function detection indicators include creatinine (CREA), urea (UREA), and uric acid (UA). Blood lipid detection indicators include total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL). Electrolyte detection indicators include potassium (K), sodium (NA), chlorine (CL), calcium (CA), and magnesium (Mg). Hemorheology detection indicators include whole blood viscosity at different shear rates (1, 5, 50, 100, 200s-1), plasma viscosity, and hematocrit. The blood glucose detection indicator is glucose (GLU).

SPSS 27.0 statistical software was used for data analysis. Measurement data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation (x ± s), and the independent-sample t-test was used for comparison between the two groups; count data are expressed as rate (%), and the x² test was used for comparison between the two groups. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

In terms of age, the experimental group was (55.19 ± 13.65) years old, and the control group was (49.92 ± 8.75) years old, with a statistically significant difference (t = 1.9190, P = 0.0307). In terms of gender, there were 14 males and 17 females in the experimental group, and 29 males and 21 females in the control group, with no statistically significant difference (x² = 0.5806, P = 0.4461). The specific data are shown in Table 1 .

The WBC in the experimental group was (7.77 ± 2.50) × 10⁹/L, and the NEUT# was (5.09 ± 2.36) × 10⁹/L, which were significantly different from those in the control group (t = 2.8905, P = 0.0029; t = 3.2777, P = 0.0011). There were no statistically significant differences in other blood routine indicators such as LYMPH#, RBC, HGB, PLT, HCT, MCV, MCH, and MCHC between the two groups (P > 0.05). The specific data are shown in Table 2 .

Liver function tests were performed on 29 out of 31 patients in the experimental group. The test results of the two groups showed that in the experimental group, AST was (19.38 ± 5.39) U/L, AST/ALT was (1.07 ± 0.45), TP was (74.13 ± 7.19) g/L, GLO was (26.43 ± 4.38) g/L, and A/G was (1.85 ± 0.32), which were significantly different from those in the control group (t = 2.5731, P = 0.0060; t = 1.1201, P = 0.1331; t = 2.7636, P = 0.0041; t = 2.5520, P = 0.0064; t = 2.0487, P = 0.0226). There were no statistically significant differences in other liver function indicators such as TBIL, DBIL, IBIL, ALT, ALB, PA, TBA, ALP, GGT, and CHE between the two groups (P > 0.05). The specific data are shown in Table 3 .

Kidney function tests were performed on 48 out of 50 subjects in the control group. The test results of the two groups showed that in the experimental group, CREA was (78.04 ± 18.76) μmol/L, UREA was (4.31 ± 1.61) mmol/L, and UA was (325.38 ± 97.95) μmol/L, with no statistically significant differences compared with the control group (P > 0.05). The specific data are shown in Table 4 .

Blood lipid tests were performed on 28 out of 31 patients in the experimental group and 39 subjects in the control group. The test results of the two groups showed that in the experimental group, TC was (5.23 ± 1.44) mmol/L, TG was (1.93 ± 1.92) mmol/L, HDL was (1.20 ± 0.30) mmol/L, and LDL was (3.58 ± 1.26) mmol/L, with no statistically significant differences compared with the control group (P > 0.05). The specific data are shown in Table 5 .

Electrolyte tests were performed on 30 out of 31 patients in the experimental group and 21 subjects in the control group. The test results of the two groups showed that in the experimental group, K was (3.29 ± 0.3) mmol/L and CA was (2.24 ± 0.11) mmol/L, which were significantly different from those in the control group (t = 9.1414, P = 0.0000; t = 1.7785, P = 0.0408). There were no statistically significant differences in other electrolyte indicators such as NA, CL, and Mg between the two groups (P > 0.05). The specific data are shown in Table 6 .

Hemorheology tests were performed on 22 out of 31 patients in the experimental group and 29 subjects in the control group. The test results of the two groups showed that in the experimental group, the whole blood viscosities at different shear rates (1, 5, 50, 100, 200s − 1) were (21.28 ± 3.44), (9.58 ± 1.73), (5.07 ± 1.10), (4.57 ± 1.03), and (4.24 ± 0.98) mPa∙s respectively, the plasma viscosity was (1.34 ± 0.08) mPa∙s, and the hematocrit was (0.41 ± 0.05). In the control group, the corresponding indicators were (21.73 ± 3.89), (9.43 ± 1.46), (4.8 ± 0.64), (4.29 ± 0.56), and (3.95 ± 0.5) mPa∙s respectively, (1.33 ± 0.07) mPa∙s, and (0.41 ± 0.04). There were no statistically significant differences in all hemorheology indicators between the two groups (P > 0.05). The specific data are shown in Table 7 .

Blood glucose tests were performed on 29 out of 31 patients in the experimental group and 43 subjects in the control group. The test results of the two groups showed that GLU in the experimental group was (6.25 ± 2.58) mmol/L, and in the control group was (5.81 ± 1.05) mmol/L, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups (t = 0.8710, P = 0.1949). The specific data are shown in Table 8 .

In this study, the levels of WBC and NEUT# in the experimental group of TIA patients were significantly higher than those in the control group. White blood cells play a key role in the body’s immune defense, and their elevation may reflect the presence of an inflammatory response during TIA attacks. Some studies have shown that the inflammatory process is involved in the occurrence and development of atherosclerosis, which is an important pathological basis of TIA [5] . As the main component of white blood cells, the increase in neutrophils may indicate that the inflammation is in an active state, with increased release of inflammatory mediators, damage to vascular endothelial cells, promotion of thrombus formation, and thus triggering TIA attacks [6] .

There were significant differences in the AST, AST/ALT, TP, GLO, and A/G indicators between the experimental group and the control group. AST is a sensitive indicator reflecting liver cell damage, and changes in its level may imply that TIA patients have a certain degree of liver cell dysfunction. The change in the AST/ALT ratio helps to judge the type and degree of liver cell damage. A decrease in the ratio may indicate acute liver cell damage [7] . The changes in TP and GLO reflect the alterations in the body’s protein metabolism, and the abnormal A/G ratio may be related to the liver’s synthetic function and immune status. This may indicate that TIA patients not only have local brain lesions but may also be accompanied by disorders of systemic metabolism and immune function.

There were significant differences in the K and CA levels between the experimental group of TIA patients and the control group. Potassium ions are crucial for maintaining the normal osmotic pressure, acid-base balance, and neuromuscular excitability of cells [8] . A decrease in potassium ion levels may affect nerve conduction and muscle contraction, and further affect the normal vasomotor function of cerebral blood vessels. Calcium ions are involved in various signal transduction processes within cells, and changes in their levels may affect the contraction and relaxation of vascular smooth muscle, having an impact on cerebral blood flow [9] . Therefore, the abnormalities of potassium and calcium ions may play a certain role in the pathogenesis of TIA.

There were no statistical differences in indicators such as kidney function, blood lipids, hemorheology, and blood glucose between the two groups. The lack of differences in kidney function indicators may be related to the fact that the sample did not include TIA patients with severe kidney function impairment, or it may indicate that the impact of TIA on kidney function is not obvious within the observation scope of this study. The lack of differences in blood lipid indicators may be due to the relatively small sample size, large individual differences among patients, and the complex relationship between TIA and blood lipid abnormalities, which requires further in-depth research with an expanded sample size [10] . The lack of significant differences in hemorheology indicators may be because the transient nature of TIA attacks did not cause persistent and detectable significant changes in hemorheology. The lack of differences in blood glucose indicators suggests that there is no direct association between TIA and blood glucose abnormalities in the population of this study, but the possibility of a connection between the two under other populations or different research conditions cannot be excluded [11] - [30] .