Body mass index and stroke risk among patients with diabetes mellitus in Korea

Obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM) are both associated with cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to evaluate the association between body mass index (BMI) and stroke risk among patients with DM in Korea since relatively few studies have analyzed this area in detail.

We analyzed a total of 56,051 DM patients aged >30 years from the Korean National Health Insurance Service Cohort who had undergone at least one national health examination between 2002 and 2012. BMI scores were divided into six categories, while hazard ratios for stroke were calculated using Cox proportional hazard models.

Overall stroke risk was positively associated with BMI for both men and women. For ischemic stroke, the risk was positively associated with BMI in women. However, for me, only patients with the highest BMI were at increased risk compared with patients with a BMI of 20-22.4 kg/m2. For hemorrhagic stroke, the risk was significantly associated with BMI with a U-shaped association in men. In women, only patients with the lowest BMI had an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke compared with patients that have a BMI of 20-22.4 kg/m2.

BMI was positively associated with the overall risk of stroke among DM patients in Korea. The risk of ischemic stroke was higher in obese patients compared to overweight or normal-weight patients. However, the risk of hemorrhagic stroke was higher in slimmer patients compared with overweight or obese patients.