Anthropometric Measurements in Predicting Haemorrhagic Stroke Among Bangladeshi Population: The MAGPIE Study

Anthropometric measurements used to predict cardiovascular disease vary worldwide but are mostly derived from those of Caucasian ancestry. We sought to undertake such measurements in the little studied Bangladeshi population.

The MAGPIE (Multidimensional Approach of Genotype and Phenotype in Stroke Etiology) study is a Bangladeshi stroke case-control study that recruited nationwide between January 2022 and June 2024. The univariate analysis was utilised to curtail the risk of independent variables, and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was employed to identify the cut-off values of Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC), and Hip Circumference (HC). Furthermore, a multivariate logistic regression (LR) model demonstrated the risk of independent predictors of haemorrhagic stroke (HS) among sexes.

Of a total of 1491 age- and sex-matched study population, 918 were haemorrhagic stroke (61.5%) with female predominance (n=489; 53.3%) and significantly older than men (P=0.003). The BMI (22.9 ±3.0 vs 21.3 ±3.0; P<0.001), WC (84.0 ±7.3 vs 80.8 ±7.3; P<0.001) and HC (90.6 ±7.1 vs 85.5 ±7.7; P<0.001) was significantly higher among women compared to men. A ROC curve demonstrated that the cut-off values of BMI, WC, and HC are 20.6kg/m², 78.8cm, and 84.6cm, respectively, in men and 21.1 kg/m², 81.5cm, and 88.1cm, respectively, in women haemorrhagic stroke population. Furthermore, an age-adjusted multivariate LR model identified a HC of ≥84.6 cm in men (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.61-4.97; P <0.001) and a WC of ≥81.5cm in women (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.01-2.37; P=0.001) as potential independent predictors of haemorrhagic stroke.

Bangladeshi men with a hip circumference of ≥84.6cm have about threefold, and women with a waist circumference of ≥81.1cm have about twofold heightened risk of haemorrhagic stroke.