title: Metabolic syndrome and stroke: A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The relationships between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and risk of incident stroke are inconsistent. We summarized the evidence by a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We searched the PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar databases from their inception until June 2016 for prospective cohort studies investigating this research question, relevant information was extracted by two independent investigators, and then aggregated using the fixed-effects models. We identified 16 studies, including 116,496 participants who were initially free of cardiovascular diseases. Comparing the persons without MetS, those with MetS have a significantly higher risk of incident stroke, and the pooled relative risk (RR) was 1.70 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.49-1.95). Subgroup analyses suggested that women were more sensitive to this effect (with an RR of 1.83, 95% CI: 1.31-2.56) than men (RR=1.47 (95% CI: 1.22-1.78). And those with MetS have a significantly higher risk of ischemic stroke (RR=2.12, 95% CI: 1.46-3.08) than hemorrhagic stroke (RR=1.48, 95% CI: 0.98-2.24).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis suggests that metabolic syndrome might be an important risk factor of stroke, particularly among women and those with ischemic stroke.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Xuelong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Xianliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Institute of Public Health, Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hualiang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Xian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Wanrong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Mingkun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, PR China.
authors.forename: Xianfan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, PR China. Electronic address: qcgao@263.net.
authors.forename: Qingchun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Incident; Meta-analysis; Metabolic syndrome; Stroke