Do general obesity, abdominal obesity, and metabolic syndrome increase the risk of stroke in women?
General obesity, abdominal obesity, and metabolic syndrome independently increase the risk of stroke in women, highlighting the importance of weight management in stroke prevention.
The obesity epidemic in the USA threatens the gains that have been made in the prevention and treatment of stroke. Both obesity and stroke disproportionately affect women more than men. Understanding the effect of obesity on stroke risk in women may be a useful stepping stone to reducing the burden of stroke in this vulnerable population. This article reviews the association between stroke and general obesity, abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome in women. All three factors have been shown to independently increase stroke risk in women.
Antillon et al. (Fri,) studied this question.