Comparison of three definition of the metabolic syndrome in Korean patients with acute ischemic stroke

Background: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of risk factors for atherosclerotic arterial disease including acute ischemic stroke but little is known about prognostic impact in acute ischemic stroke patients. Several diagnostic criteria have been proposed by number of organizations. So we aimed to investigate the prevalence of MetS according to different diagnostic criteria.Methods: Patients with acute ischemic stroke were performed to estimate the prevalence of MetS using the 3 definitions of MetS: the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel-III (NCEP ATP-III), the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and Joint Interim Societies (JIS) MetS definition. One year mortality and morbidity of all cause and vascular cause was evaluated according to individual definition.Results: Among total 914 patients, the MetS prevalence was 32.5%, 37.2% and 56.6% with the NCEP, IDF and JIS definitions. Central obesity was more frequently observed in patients diagnosed with MetS by IDF and JIS definition than patients with MetS by NCEP ATP-III definition. One year mortality of all cause was 6.9% in the whole study population and 5.4%, 4.4% and 5.8% according to the NCEP ATP-III, IDF and JIS definitions. Age and C-reactive protein was positively in contrast, the IDF and the JIS definitions were negatively predicted 1-year mortality.Conclusions: The prevalence of MetS was higher with JIS definitions in comparison with other 2 definitions. But JIS and IDF definitions were negatively predicted 1 year mortality. These findings suggest needs for further study for prognostic impact of individual MetS definition in patients with acute ischemic stroke.