Excess Weight and Obesity as Risk Factors for Stroke in Men
Excess Weight and Obesity as Risk Factors for Stroke in Men
This article aims to evaluate whether overweight and obesity are risk factors for stroke and stroke subtypes in a prospective cohort study of 21,414 US male physicians aged 40-84 years at entry. In contrast to the well established association between excess weight and risk of coronary heart disease, its role as a risk factor for stroke is less clear and thus has been neglected in overall estimation of stroke risk. Incident cases of stroke were self-reported and confirmed by medical record review. We used Cox proportional hazards models to evaluate the association of body mass index with risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke. After a mean follow-up of 12.5 years, a total of 747 strokes occurred, including 631 ischemic, 104 hemorrhagic, and 12 undefined strokes. Compared with participants with body mass index <23 kg/m , those with body mass index ≥30 kg/m had an adjusted relative risk of 2.00 (95% confidence interval, 1.48-2.71) for total stroke, 1.95 (95% confidence interval, 1.39-2.72) for ischemic stroke, and 2.25 (95% confidence interval, 1.01-5.01) for hemorrhagic stroke. These prospective data indicate a direct and significant association between excess weight and the relative risk of total stroke and its two major subtypes. Because body mass index is a modifiable risk factor, the prevention of stroke may be another benefit associated with preventing obesity in adults.
Overweight and obesity are well documented risk factors for a variety of diseases, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers. Although coronary heart dis-ease and stroke share many risk factors, excess weight has not been recognized as an established risk factor for stroke, largely due to limited and inconclusive data. As a result, obesity has generally been ignored in the overall estimation of stroke risk. Among women, Rexrode et al. found that excess weight was associated with an increased risk for total and ischemic stroke and showed a nonsignificant inverse association with hemorrhagic stroke. We describe here our study that evaluated the association between body mass index (BMI) and overall stroke, as well as stroke subtypes, among more than 21,000 US male physicians.
This article aims to evaluate whether overweight and obesity are risk factors for stroke and stroke subtypes in a prospective cohort study of 21,414 US male physicians aged 40-84 years at entry. In contrast to the well established association between excess weight and risk of coronary heart disease, its role as a risk factor for stroke is less clear and thus has been neglected in overall estimation of stroke risk. Incident cases of stroke were self-reported and confirmed by medical record review. We used Cox proportional hazards models to evaluate the association of body mass index with risk of total, ischemic, and hemorrhagic stroke. After a mean follow-up of 12.5 years, a total of 747 strokes occurred, including 631 ischemic, 104 hemorrhagic, and 12 undefined strokes. Compared with participants with body mass index <23 kg/m , those with body mass index ≥30 kg/m had an adjusted relative risk of 2.00 (95% confidence interval, 1.48-2.71) for total stroke, 1.95 (95% confidence interval, 1.39-2.72) for ischemic stroke, and 2.25 (95% confidence interval, 1.01-5.01) for hemorrhagic stroke. These prospective data indicate a direct and significant association between excess weight and the relative risk of total stroke and its two major subtypes. Because body mass index is a modifiable risk factor, the prevention of stroke may be another benefit associated with preventing obesity in adults.
Overweight and obesity are well documented risk factors for a variety of diseases, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers. Although coronary heart dis-ease and stroke share many risk factors, excess weight has not been recognized as an established risk factor for stroke, largely due to limited and inconclusive data. As a result, obesity has generally been ignored in the overall estimation of stroke risk. Among women, Rexrode et al. found that excess weight was associated with an increased risk for total and ischemic stroke and showed a nonsignificant inverse association with hemorrhagic stroke. We describe here our study that evaluated the association between body mass index (BMI) and overall stroke, as well as stroke subtypes, among more than 21,000 US male physicians.