Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jun;6(6):e630-e640.
doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30216-X.

Adiposity and risk of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke in 0·5 million Chinese men and women: a prospective cohort study

Zhengming Chen  1 , Andri Iona  2 , Sarah Parish  3 , Yiping Chen  3 , Yu Guo  4 , Fiona Bragg  2 , Ling Yang  3 , Zheng Bian  4 , Michael V Holmes  3 , Sarah Lewington  3 , Ben Lacey  2 , Ruqin Gao  5 , Fang Liu  6 , Zengzhi Zhang  7 , Junshi Chen  8 , Robin G Walters  2 , Rory Collins  2 , Robert Clarke  2 , Richard Peto  2 , Liming Li  9 ; China Kadoorie Biobank collaborative group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Adiposity and risk of ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke in 0·5 million Chinese men and women: a prospective cohort study

Zhengming Chen et al. Lancet Glob Health. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Background: China has high stroke rates despite the population being relatively lean. Uncertainty persists about the relevance of adiposity to risk of stroke types. We aimed to assess the associations of adiposity with incidence of stroke types and effect mediation by blood pressure in Chinese men and women.

Methods: The China Kadoorie Biobank enrolled 512 891 adults aged 30-79 years from ten areas (five urban and five rural) during 2004-08. During a median 9 years (IQR 8-10) of follow-up, 32 448 strokes (about 90% confirmed by neuroimaging) were recorded among 489 301 participants without previous cardiovascular disease. Cox regression analysis was used to produce adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for ischaemic stroke (n=25 210) and intracerebral haemorrhage (n=5380) associated with adiposity.

Findings: Mean baseline body-mass index (BMI) was 23·6 kg/m2 (SD 3·2), and 331 723 (67·8%) participants had a BMI of less than 25 kg/m2. Throughout the range examined (mean 17·1 kg/m2 [SD 0·9] to 31·7 kg/m2 [2·0]), each 5 kg/m2 higher BMI was associated with 8·3 mm Hg (SE 0·04) higher systolic blood pressure. BMI was positively associated with ischaemic stroke, with an HR of 1·30 (95% CI 1·28-1·33 per 5 kg/m2 higher BMI), which was generally consistent with that predicted by equivalent differences in systolic blood pressure (1·25 [1·24-1·26]). The HR for intracerebral haemorrhage (1·11 [1·07-1·16] per 5 kg/m2 higher BMI) was less extreme, and much weaker than that predicted by the corresponding difference in systolic blood pressure (1·48 [1·46-1·50]). Other adiposity measures showed similar associations with stroke types. After adjustment for usual systolic blood pressure, the positive associations with ischaemic stroke were attenuated (1·05 [1·03-1·07] per 5 kg/m2 higher BMI); for intracerebral haemorrhage, they were reversed (0·73 [0·70-0·77]). High adiposity (BMI >23 kg/m2) accounted for 14·7% of total stroke (16·5% of ischaemic stroke and 6·7% of intracerebral haemorrhage).

Interpretation: In Chinese adults, adiposity was strongly positively associated with ischaemic stroke, chiefly through its effect on blood pressure. For intracerebral haemorrhage, leanness, either per se or through some other factor (or factors), might increase risk, offsetting the protective effects of lower blood pressure.

Funding: UK Wellcome Trust, UK Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Kadoorie Charitable Foundation, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Chinese National Natural Science Foundation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Associations between baseline BMI and SBP and between usual SBP and incidence of stroke types (A) BMI versus SBP. Means are adjusted for age, sex, area, education, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and self-rated health status. The area of the squares is inversely proportional to the variance of the mean SBP. The vertical lines indicate 95% CIs. (B) SBP versus ischaemic stroke. (C) SBP versus intracerebral haemorrhage. HRs are stratified by age, sex, and area, and adjusted simultaneously for education, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and self-rated health status. Each closed square represents HR with the area inversely proportional to the variance of the log HR. The vertical lines indicate 95% CIs. BMI=body-mass index. SBP=systolic blood pressure. HR=hazard ratio.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Adjusted HRs for ischaemic stroke (A) and intracerebral haemorrhage (B) by baseline BMI, body fat percentage, and waist circumference HRs are stratified by age, sex, and area, and adjusted simultaneously for education, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and self-rated health status. Each closed square represents HR with the area inversely proportional to the variance of the log HR. The vertical lines indicate 95% CIs. HR=hazard ratio. BMI=body-mass index.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Adjusted HRs for ischaemic stroke (A,B) and intracerebral haemorrhage (C,D) by baseline BMI, stratified by age (A,C) and age and sex (B,D) The left panel shows adjusted HRs for stroke types by baseline BMI, stratified by age-at-risk. HRs are stratified by sex and area, and adjusted simultaneously for education, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and self-rated health status. HRs are plotted on a floating absolute scale. Each closed square represents HR with the area inversely proportional to the variance of the log HR. The vertical lines indicate 95% CIs. The right panel shows HRs for stroke types per 5 kg/m2 higher BMI, stratified by age-at-risk and sex. Each square represents HR with the area inversely proportional to the variance of the log HR. The horizontal lines indicate 95% CIs. The dashed vertical line indicates the overall HR for men and women combined, and open diamonds indicate combined values and their 95% CIs. HR=hazard ratio. BMI=body-mass index.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Feigin VL, Krishnamurthi RV, Parmar P. Update on the global burden of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke in 1990–2013: the GBD 2013 study. Neuroepidemiology. 2015;45:161–176. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang W, Jiang B, Sun H. Prevalence, incidence and mortality of stroke in China: results from a nationwide population-based survey of 480,687 adults. Circulation. 2017;135:759–771. - PubMed
    1. Ng M, Fleming T, Robinson M. Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet. 2014;384:766–781. - PMC - PubMed
    1. NCD Risk Factor Collaboration Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19·2 million participants. Lancet. 2016;387:1377–1396. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration Body mass index and cardiovascular disease in the Asia-Pacific Region: an overview of 33 cohorts involving 310 000 participants. Int J Epidemiol. 2004;33:751–758. - PubMed

Publication types