Objectives: To evaluate the association between body mass index (BMI) and hemorrhagic stroke.
Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 2,712 persons (904 cases, 904 hospital controls, and 904 community controls) participating in an Acute Brain Bleeding Analysis study from October 2002 to March 2004. Two controls for each case were matched according to age and gender. The information was obtained by trained interviewers using standardized questionnaire. A conditional logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between BMI and the frequency of having a hemorrhagic stroke.
Results: Obese men (25.0 <or= BMI < 30.0 kg/m(2)) had an odds ratios (OR) of 1.39 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.87) a hemorrhagic stroke, compared to men with a normal BMI (18.5 to 24.9 kg/m(2)). Conversely, women with lower BMI had a higher risk of having hemorrhagic stroke. With respect to subtypes of hemorrhagic stroke, we observed about a three-fold increase in the risk of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in the highly obese group. However, these trends were not significant in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhages.
Conclusions: Obesity was identified as one of the risk factors in hemorrhagic stroke, in particular ICH. Conversely, in women, a lean body weight increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke. Consequently, managing one\s weight is essential to reduce the risks of hemorrhagic stroke.