Research

Mixed

Middle-aged men with metabolic syndrome (defined by NCEP or WHO criteria) have a significantly increased risk of all strokes and ischemic strokes, independent of other known cardiovascular risk factors.

If you are a middle-aged man, getting your metabolic health checked is critical for stroke prevention. This means monitoring blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and waist size together. If you meet the criteria for metabolic syndrome, you have roughly double the risk of stroke compared to those who don't, even if you don't smoke or have high cholesterol. Addressing the cluster of issues is more important than treating just one.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Men with the metabolic syndrome as defined by the NCEP criteria had a 2.05-fold (95% CI, 1.03 to 4.11; P<0.042) risk for all strokes and 2.41-fold (95% CI, 1.12 to 5.32; P<0.025) risk for ischemic stroke, after adjusting for socioeconomic status, smoking, alcohol, and family history of coronary heart disease.
Sudhir Kurl et al. · Stroke · 2006

Why this rating

Prospective population-based cohort study with long follow-up (14.3 years) and rigorous adjustment for confounders.

Source

Metabolic Syndrome and the Risk of Stroke in Middle-Aged Men

Sudhir Kurl et al. · Stroke · 2006

DOI 10.1161/01.str.0000204354.06965.44

cohort · n=1131Cited 210×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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