Asymptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis and metabolic syndrome: the APAC study

PLoS One. 2014 Dec 2;9(12):e113205. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113205. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Purpose: The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. We investigated potential associations between MetS and asymptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis (ICAS) in a general population.

Methods: The community-based "Asymptomatic Polyvascular Abnormalities in Community Study" examined asymptomatic polyvascular abnormalities in a Chinese population aged 40+ years without history of stroke and coronary heart disease. MetS was defined by the International Diabetes Federation criteria. Asymptomatic ICAS was diagnosed by transcranial color-coded Doppler sonography.

Results: Out of 5393 study participants, asymptomatic ICAS was detected in 713 (13.2%) participants, and MetS in 1323 (24.5%) individuals. Prevalence of asymptomatic ICAS increased significantly from 7.5% to 24.2% with increasing number of MetS components. After adjusting for age, gender, physical activity, body mass index, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, MetS was significantly associated with asymptomatic ICAS (OR: 1.50; 95%CI: 1.23,1.83). Compared with the subgroup without MetS, the ORs for asymptomatic ICAS increased (P<0.0001) for each of 5 components of MetS from 1.71 (95%CI: 1.27,2.30), to 2.20 (95%CI: 1.63,2.98), 2.79 (95CI: 2.01,3.88), 3.08 (95%CI: 2.11,4.51) and 4.27 (95%CI: 2.22,8.20).

Conclusions: In multivariate analysis, MetS was an independent and additional factor associated with asymptomatic ICAS. Study participants with 5 MetS components had a 4 times higher risk of asymptomatic ICAS than participants with no MetS component.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Asian People
  • Blood Pressure
  • C-Reactive Protein / metabolism
  • Cholesterol / blood
  • Constriction, Pathologic / blood
  • Constriction, Pathologic / complications
  • Constriction, Pathologic / physiopathology*
  • Diabetes Mellitus / blood
  • Diabetes Mellitus / physiopathology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Lipoproteins / blood
  • Lipoproteins, LDL / blood
  • Male
  • Metabolic Syndrome / blood
  • Metabolic Syndrome / complications
  • Metabolic Syndrome / physiopathology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Risk Factors
  • Stroke / blood
  • Stroke / complications
  • Stroke / physiopathology*

Substances

  • Lipoproteins
  • Lipoproteins, LDL
  • C-Reactive Protein
  • Cholesterol

Grants and funding

This research was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81202279), and by a grant from advanced health care professional development project of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau (Grant No. 2009-3-32). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Disclosure/Conflict of Interest: None.