Introduction:
Obesity has been recognized as an isolated risk factor for stroke. Also in obese patients more frequently other risk factors for stroke as hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, ischemic heart disease and obstructive sleep apnea are present. The aim of our study is to investigate the presence of obesity among other risk factors for stroke in younger adult patients with ischemic stroke.
Methods:
This was a pilot study performed on patients with ischemic stroke younger than 55 years of age. We included 50 patients. All patients underwent standard diagnostic procedure, and in all the height, weight and waist and hip circumference were measured.
Results:
The study included 23 female and 27 male patients. The mean age of patients was 39.8 ± 10.5 years for male group and 41.6 ± 7.7 years for the female group. Comparing to control group with average abdominal girth of 94.9 ± 5.8 cm, in male young stroke patients abdominal obesity was present, with average abdominal girth of 102.6 ± 9.8 cm. No significant difference was present in female group, neither for body mass nor for abdominal obesity measures.
Conclusions:
In younger adults obesity is important risk factor for stroke, even without other standard risk factor for atherosclerosis and stroke. This is especially prominent for abdominal obesity among male patients.
