Objective: To assess the association of the metabolic syndrome with stroke in Chinese using the definition of ATP III, and revised definition according to Chinese criteria for abdominal obesity.
Methods: Multi-center case control study, 1934 first-ever-stroke patients (Atherothrombosis, lacunar infarction, and intracerebral hemorrhage) aged 30 to 74 years were sequentially recruited. And 1839 age, gender and geographically matched subjects were included as controls.
Results: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome defined by either ATP III or Chinese criteria was significantly increasing in patients with lacunar infarction, cerebral atherosclerosis, or intracerebral hemorrhage than control subjects. After age- and sex-adjusted and further adjusted age, sex, total cholesterol, smoking, drinking, and education levels, the metabolic syndrome defined by ATP III criteria was associated with a 2.7 to 4.3 fold and 2.5 to 4.0 fold higher risk of the three stroke subtypes, respectively.
Conclusion: the metabolic syndrome defined by ATP III and revised according to Chinese criteria of abdominal obesity was positively associated with the risk of stroke in our case control study. This study underscores the need for well-designed prospective study in Chinese to give further evidence to the link between metabolic syndrome and stroke.