Differences in Prevalence and Risk Factors of the Metabolic Syndrome Between Hemorrhagic Stroke and Normal Control

Cho, Yong Jae; Seo, Eui Kyo

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Hemorrhagic stroke is an important cause of mortality after coronary heart disease and cancer, and is a leading cause of disability. Metabolic syndrome causes an increased risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, there a few studies on the relationship between hemorrhagic stroke and metabolic syndrome that have been reported in Korea. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the incidence of metabolic syndrome in patients with hemorrhagic stroke and in a control group of subjects.
METHODS
A total of 115 patients with hemorrhagic stroke from March 2005 to December 2006 and 120 age- and sex-matched control subjects who undertook a medical examination at our hospital during the same period were studied. Blood pressure, body mass index, fasting blood glucose level, triglyceride level, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, total cholesterol level and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level were checked. We investigated the prevalence and relationship of metabolic syndrome between the hemorrhagic stroke group of patients and normal control group of subjects.
RESULTS
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 44.35% in the hemorrhagic stroke group of patients as compared to 26.67% in the normal control group of subjects. Among each component of metabolic syndrome, the body mass index, triglyceride level and fasting glucose level were significantly higher in the hemorrhagic stroke group of patients than in the normal control group of subjects. The odds ratio for hemorrhagic stroke by metabolic syndrome was 1.953 (95% CI, 0.781 to 3.245) and if analyzed separately, the presence of hypertension and fasting hyperglycemia showed a significantly increased odds ratio for hemorrhagic stroke among the components.
CONCLUSION
Patients with hemorrhagic stroke had higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome as compared with the normal control subjects, and the presence of metabolic syndrome increased the risk for hemorrhagic stroke. Among the metabolic components, fasting hyperglycemia significantly increased the risk for hemorrhagic stroke. This result emphasizes the importance of managing metabolic syndrome in hemorrhagic stroke patients.