This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 40/1/3    most recent STROKEAHA.108.534214v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cronin, S. Articles by Kelly, P. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Cronin, S. Articles by Kelly, P. J. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Metabolic Syndrome Stroke Related Collections Other Ethics and Policy Primary prevention Risk Factors Glucose intolerance Acute Stroke Syndromes Other Stroke Treatment - Medical Related Article

(Stroke. 2009;40:3.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Stroke and the Metabolic Syndrome in Populations

The Challenge Ahead

Simon Cronin, MB, MRCPI Peter J. Kelly, MD, MS, FRCPI

From Department of Neurology (S.C.), Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; Stroke Service, Department of Neurology and Neurovascular Clinical Science Unit (P.J.K.), Mater University Hospital and University College Dublin, Ireland.

Key Words: metabolic syndrome • prevention • risk factors • stroke in young adults

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

See related article, pages 200–205.

The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a constellation of inter-related metabolic abnormalities, including insulin resistance/diabetes, elevated blood pressure, obesity, and dyslipidemia.¹ Sedentary lifestyle, dietary changes, and the obesity epidemic have led to a rising prevalence of MetS, with the syndrome now affecting an estimated 47 million adults in the United States.²

Current American Stroke Association guidelines for primary prevention of stroke categorize MetS as a less well-documented risk factor.³ Although MetS is known to increase all-cause cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, less information is available on the relationship between the syndrome and risk of stroke. To address this, within the last year several large prospective studies have examined the risk for stroke in individuals with MetS.^4,5 To date, reports have concentrated predominantly on elderly subjects and have not fully evaluated which of the individual MetS components confers greatest risk.

In this issue of Stroke, Rodriguez-Colon et al⁶ investigated the rates of MetS components and incident stroke in almost 15 000 middle-aged individuals followed-up prospectively for 9 years as part of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. At baseline 39% of participants, with a mean age of 54, met the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute/American Heart Association criteria for MetS. On follow-up, the relative risk for incident stroke was more than doubled in individuals with MetS as compared to those without. After adjusting for other risk factors, a graded, dose-dependent relationship was observed between the number of MetS components and risk of stroke, with an . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Metabolic Syndrome Clusters and the Risk of Incident Stroke: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Sol M. Rodriguez-Colon, Jingping Mo, Yinkang Duan, Jiahao Liu, Joanne E. Caulfield, Xuejuan Jin, and Duanping Liao
Stroke 2009 40: 200-205. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]