The relationship between body mass index and stroke: a systemic review and meta-analysis

Stroke is an acute cerebrovascular event closely related to brain tissue damage, and is one of the major causes of death and disability in worldwide. Various studies have reported the effects of body mass index (BMI) on the risk of stroke, but the results remain varied and these results have not been synthesized. Therefore, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between BMI and the risk of stroke.

This systematic review was conducted to explore the relationship between BMI and the risk of stroke.

PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Cochrane Library, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (CNKI), WanFang Database, Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM), and CQVIP were comprehensively searched for studies exploring the relationship between BMI and stroke from inception to December 1, 2021.

This review included 24 studies involving 5,798,826 subjects. The results of meta-analysis showed that the pooled RR of stroke risk was 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.82-1.06, I² = 88.8%, P = 0.29) for the underweight group. Higher BMI (overweight or obese group) was associated with an increased overall risk of stroke, with pooled RR values of 1.25 (95% CI 1.16-1.34, I² = 84.8%, P = 0.00) and 1.47 (95% CI: 1.02-2.11, I² = 99.4%, P = 0.04).

The risk of stroke was positively correlated with BMI, and the association was stronger in male and ischemic stroke. Lowering BMI can be used as a way to prevent stroke, and for people who are overweight or obese, lowering body weight can reduce the risk of stroke.