[Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in ischaemic stroke population]

The metabolic syndrome (MetSyn), especially diabetes or dyslipidaemias, predisposes to cardiovascular disease or stroke development. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of MetSyn in a non-selected population of acute ischaemic stroke (IS) patients using three definitions.

We analyzed 763 IS patients (426 women, 337 men) consecutively admitted to a tertiary referral hospital specializing in acute stroke care (1.01.2003-30.09.2005). MetSyn was diagnosed in the presence of three from five disturbances (alimentary or simple obesity, increased blood pressure, increased triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, fasting hyperglycaemia) according to definitions of: National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), American Heart Association - National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (AHA-NHLBI).

MetSyn was diagnosed according to criteria NCEP-ATP III, IDF, AHA-NHLBI in 54.3, 60.8 and 63.5% of IS patients, respectively, with significantly higher prevalence in women than in men in all age groups. Hypertension was the most frequent disturbance (93.7%). Alimentary or simple obesity and low HDL cholesterol level were significantly more frequent in women than in men (visceral obesity: NCEP-ATP III - 60.7 vs. 26.6%, IDF - 82 vs. 55.8%, AHA-NHLBI - 63.1 vs. 28.2%, respectively; low HDL cholesterol: 56.8 vs. 42%).

Over half of acute ischaemic stroke patients have MetSyn, but in the female population MetSyn is 1.5 times more frequent than in men. It is necessary to pay a special attention to the population with MetSyn because of the high risk of ischaemic stroke.