Maintenance of body weight is an important determinant for the risk of ischemic stroke: A nationwide population-based cohort study

Overweight is known as a risk factor for ischemic stroke. However, the effect of weight change on the development of ischemic stroke remains controversial. We investigated the relationship between weight change and the risk of ischemic stroke using a nationwide population-based cohort. Our study enrolled 11,084,683 participants (Mean age 49.7±13.5 years, range 20-114 years) in the Korean National Health Screening Program from 2009 to 2012. Weight change was calculated using the difference between the baseline weight and the weight at health screening four years prior to the baseline. The occurrence of newly-diagnosed ischemic stroke was observed until the end of 2015. We categorized the study population according to weight change and performed multivariable analysis to compare the risk. Ischemic stroke was newly diagnosed in 113,591 subjects. The crude incidence rates of ischemic stroke per 1000 person-years according to the change in body weight were 3.059, 1.906, and 1.491 in the