title: The Short- and Long-Term Risk of Stroke after Herpes Zoster: A Meta-Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Accumulating evidence indicates that stroke risk may be increased following herpes zoster. The aim of this study is to perform a meta-analysis of current literature to systematically analyze and quantitatively estimate the short and long-term effects of herpes zoster on the risk of stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  Embase, PubMed and Cochrane library databases were searched for relevant studies up to March 2016. Studies were selected for analysis based on certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. Relative risks with 95% confidence interval (CI) were extracted to assess the association between herpes zoster and stroke.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 8 articles were included in our analysis. The present meta-analysis showed that the risks of stroke after herpes zoster were 2.36 (95% CI: 2.17-2.56) for first 2 weeks, 1.56 (95% CI: 1.46-1.66) for first month, 1.17 (95% CI: 1.13-1.22) for first year, and 1.09 (95% CI: 1.02-1.16) for more than 1 year, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of our study demonstrated that herpes zoster was associated with a higher risk of stroke, but the risks decreased along with the time after herpes zoster.
authors: Department of Neurology, The 105th Hospital of PLA, Clinic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xuechun
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Neurology, The 105th Hospital of PLA, Clinic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Yeming
authors: Y
authors: Guan
authors: Department of Neurology, The 105th Hospital of PLA, Clinic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Liang
authors: L
authors: Hou
authors: Department of Neurology, The 105th Hospital of PLA, Clinic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Haili
authors: H
authors: Huang
authors: Department of Neurology, The 105th Hospital of PLA, Clinic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Hongjuan
authors: H
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Neurology, The 105th Hospital of PLA, Clinic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Chuanwen
authors: C
authors: Li
authors: Department of Neurology, The 105th Hospital of PLA, Clinic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Yingying
authors: Y
authors: Zhu
authors: Teaching Center of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xingyong
authors: X
authors: Tao
authors: Department of Neurology, The 105th Hospital of PLA, Clinic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China.
authors: Qingsong
authors: Q
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications*