“Studies have shown conflicting results on whether metabolic syndrome, which has been tied to an increased risk of a first stroke, also increases the risk of a second stroke and death, so we wanted to analyze all of the research available,” said study author Tian Li, MD, of Fourth Military Medical University in Xi’an, China.
‘Metabolic syndrome is associated with increased risk of second stroke and death.’
The meta-analysis combined results from six studies with 11,000 participants who were followed for up to five years and found that people with metabolic syndrome were 46% more likely to have a second stroke than people who did not have the syndrome.
Researchers found that having a low level of good cholesterol and having two or more components of the syndrome were associated independently with an increased risk of a second stroke.
Having excess belly fat, high blood sugar and high blood pressure were not linked to increased risk of second stroke on their own.
The meta-analysis combined eight studies with 51,613 people who were followed for up to five years to discover that people with metabolic syndrome were 27% more likely to die during the study than people without the syndrome.
None of the individual components of the syndrome were independently associated with an increased risk of death. They also noted that the studies were observational, so they do not prove that metabolic syndrome is a cause of recurrent stroke or death and they only show an association.
Researchers hope that these findings will help people with metabolic syndrome and their health care providers to be aware of risk of recurrent stroke and give preventative treatments.
The preventive measures will be steps to modify their risk of second stroke and even death where possible, through medication, diet, exercise and other recommended lifestyle changes such as stopping smoking.
Source: Medindia
