The Distribution of Lifestyle Risk Factors Among Patients with Stroke in the Indian Setting: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: The burden of stroke is increasing in India, but there is limited understanding of the distribution of reported risk factors in the Indian setting. It is vital to generate robust data on these modifiable risk factors to scale up appropriate strategies for the prevention of cerebrovascular diseases in this setting. SUMMARY: The objective of this study is to estimate the overall proportion of life style risk factors of patients with stroke in the Indian setting. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar and relevant studies published till February 2022 were included. The risk of bias assessment was considered for the study selection criterion in the meta-analysis. The publication bias was evaluated by funnel plots and Egger’s test. We identified 61 studies in the systematic review and after quality assessment, 36 studies were included for meta-analysis. Random effect model was used due to the significant inconsistency among the included studies (I2 > 97%). The mean age of the participants was 53.84±9.3 years and patients with stroke were predominantly males (64%). Hypertension (56.69%; 95% CI: - 48.45 – 64.58), obesity (36.61%; 95% CI: - 19.31 – 58.23), dyslipidemia (30.6%; 95% CI: - 22 – 40.81) and diabetes mellitus (23.8%; 95% CI: - 18.79 – 29.83) are the leading intermediate conditions associated with stroke. The Physical inactivity - 29.9% (95% CI: - 22.9 – 37.1), history of tobacco use (28.59 %; 95% CI: - 22.22 – 32.94) and alcohol use (28.15 %; 95% CI: - 20.49 – 37.33) were reported as the behavioral risk factors for stroke in this setting. KEY MESSAGES: The current meta-analysis provides robust estimates of the life style related risk-factor of stroke in India based on the observational studies conducted from 1994 to 2019. Estimating the pooled analysis of stroke risk factors is crucial to predict the imposed burden of the illness and ascertain the treatment and prevention strategies for controlling the modifiable risk factors in this setting.