Patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) are at high-risk for future cardiovascular events. The relationship between MetS and stroke in Japan, however, has not yet been elucidated. We assessed an association of MetS with ischemic stroke. We performed a cross-sectional study consisting of consecutive 311 patients with ischemic stroke (M/F 209/102, mean age of 70 years) who were admitted to our hospital within the first 7 days from February 1 in 2004, and of 611 people (418/204, mean age of 70 years) in a general population in Hisayama town. The diagnosis of MetS was made according to the Adult Treatment Panel III of the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine (JSIM). MetS was present in 24% of the stroke patients by NCEP, 15% by WHO, 25% by IDF, and 21 % by JSIM definition. The number of traditional vascular risk factors was significantly correlated with the presence of ischemic stroke. Stroke patients had more frequently hypertension (relative risk 2.5), diabetes mellitus (3.8), low HDL-cholesterol (13.1), increased level of CRP (3.2), and less frequently hypertriglyceridemia (0.3), hypercholesterolemia (0.5) as compared to people in Hisayama town. MetS of any definitions was not significant risk factor for ischemic stroke in this study.
