Plasma retinol and the risk of first stroke in hypertensive adults: a nested case-control study

Identification of novel risk factors is needed to further lower stroke risk. Data concerning the association between plasma retinol concentrations and the risk of stroke are limited.

We aimed to evaluate the effect of plasma retinol on the risk of first stroke and to examine any possible effect modifiers in hypertensive patients.

The study sample population was drawn from the China Stroke Primary Prevention Trial (CSPPT), using a nested case-control design, including 620 cases with first stroke and 620 matched controls. In the CSPPT, a total of 20,702 hypertensive patients were randomly assigned to a double-blind, daily treatment with either 10 mg enalapril and 0.8 mg folic acid or 10 mg enalapril alone. The median treatment duration was 4.5 y.

There was a significant inverse association between plasma retinol and the risk of first stroke (per 10-μg/dL increment; OR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.97) and first ischemic stroke (OR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.98). When retinol was assessed as quartiles, significantly lower risks of first stroke (OR: 0.64; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.88) and first ischemic stroke (OR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.46, 0.96) were found in participants in quartiles 2-4 compared with those in quartile 1. Furthermore, a stronger inverse association between plasma retinol and first stroke was observed in participants with baseline total homocysteine (<10 compared with ≥10 μmol/L; P-interaction = 0.049). However, plasma retinol had no significant effect on first hemorrhagic stroke (per 10-μg/dL increment; OR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.79, 1.18).

Our data showed a significant inverse association between plasma retinol and the risk of first stroke among Chinese hypertensive adults. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00794885.