Dietary cholesterol intake and stroke risk: a meta-analysis

// Pengfei Cheng 1, 2, 3, 4, * , Junxi Pan 2, 3, 5, * , Jinjun Xia 2, 3, 5, * , Fengli Deng 2, 3, * , Wen Huang 6 , Shunjie Bai 2, 3, 5 , Xiaofeng Zhu 7 , Weihua Shao 8 , Haiyang Wang 2, 3 and Peng Xie 1, 2, 3 1 Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China 2 Chongqing Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, Chongqing, 400016, China 3 Institute of Neuroscience and The Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China 4 Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, Heilongjiang Province, 154002, China 5 The M.O.E. Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medical Diagnostics, The College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China 6 Department of Neurology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400037, China 7 Institute of Neuroscience, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, Heilongjiang Province, 154002, China 8 Department of Respiratory Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Peng Xie, email: xiepeng58@21cn.com Keywords: diet; cholesterol; stroke; cerebrovascular accident; meta-analysis Received: May 13, 2017      Accepted: November 03, 2017      Epub: January 04, 2018      Published: May 22, 2018 ABSTRACT Background/Objectives : The association between dietary cholesterol and stroke risk has remained controversial over the past two decades. The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the relationship between dietary cholesterol and stroke risk. Results : Seven prospective studies including 269,777 non-overlapping individuals (4,604 strokes) were included. The combined RR of stroke for higher cholesterol intake (> 300 mg/day) was 0.98 (95% CI, 0.90–1.07), and the combined RR of stroke for higher cholesterol intake (> 300 mg/day) in females (age of ≥ 60 years or body mass index of ≥ 24 kg/m 2 ) was 1.18 (95% CI, 1.02–1.36). Materials and Methods : The PubMed, Medline, Embase, Web of Knowledge, and Google Scholar databases were searched. Relevant studies were identified by searching these online databases through September 2017. The relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to investigate the strength of the association. Conclusions : Higher cholesterol intake has no association with the overall stroke risk. Age and body mass index affect the relationship between dietary cholesterol intake and stroke risk. However, the association between higher dietary cholesterol and stroke risk in males remains unclear.