Non-traditional lipid profiles and the risk of stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis

An increasing number of studies on non-traditional lipid profiles have been investigated in recent years. However, the associations between non-traditional lipid profiles and the risk of stroke remained inconsistent. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the associations between non-traditional lipid profiles and the risk of stroke and clarify the dose-response relations.

We performed a systematic literature search in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases until 1 November 2022 for relevant studies. Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals were pooled by random-effects or fixed-effects models. A total of 26 full-text studies with 676678 participants and 18057 stroke cases were eligible for the final study. We found a positive association between the risk of stroke and total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TC/HDL-C) ratio (RR = 1.19,95%CI = 1.00-1.40, I² = 74.6%), triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio (RR = 1.24,95%CI = 1.10-1.41, I² = 62.8%) or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C/HDL-C) ratio (RR = 1.24, 95%CI = 1.11-1.39, I² = 49.4%). When focusing on the stroke subtype, a more significant association was observed between the risk of ischemic stroke and four non-traditional lipid profiles. In dose-response analysis, we found a linear association between TC/HDL-C ratio and the risk of stroke (RR = 1.16,95%CI = 1.07-1.26).

Elevated non-traditional lipid profiles were associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke. The linear association showed the risk of stroke increased by 16% when the pooled RR of TC/HDL-C ratio per 1-unit increased.

CRD42022321251.