Background: Epidemiological studies have evaluated the association between nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase p22(phox) C242T polymorphism and risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICVD), but the results remain inconclusive. This meta-analysis was therefore designed to clarify these controversies.
Methodology/principal findings: Systematic searches of electronic databases Embase, PubMed and Web of Science, as well as hand searching of the references of identified articles and the meeting abstracts were performed. Statistical analyses were performed using software Review Manager (Version 5.1.7) and Stata (Version 11.0). The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were performed. Fixed or random effects model was separately used depending on the heterogeneity between studies. Publication bias was tested by Begg's funnel plot and Egger's regression test. A total of 6 studies including 1,948 cases and 2,357 controls were combined showing no statistical evidence of association between NADPH oxidase p22(phox) C242T polymorphism and overall ICVD (allelic model: OR = 1.08, 95%CI = 0.93-1.26; additive model: OR = 1.33, 95%CI = 0.81-2.17; dominant model: OR = 1.00, 95%CI = 0.86-1.15; recessive model: OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 0.77-1.45). Significant association was found in large-artery atherosclerotic stroke subgroup (allelic model: OR = 1.12, 95%CI = 0.88-1.41; additive model: OR = 1.36, 95%CI = 0.60-3.09; dominant model: OR = 1.25, 95%CI = 0.74-2.11; recessive model: OR = 2.17, 95%CI = 1.11-4.23). No statistical evidence of significant association was observed for small-vessel occlusive stroke, as well as Asian subgroup and Caucasian subgroup. Statistical powers on the combined sample size (total and subgroup) were all lower than 80%.
Conclusions/significance: This meta-analysis indicates that NADPH oxidase p22(phox) C242T polymorphism is more associated with large-artery atherosclerotic stroke than small-vessel occlusive stroke. However, this conclusion should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size. Larger sample-size studies with homogeneous ICVD patients and well-matched controls are required.