The study was performed among Bangladeshi stroke patients and healthy peoples without stroke to evaluate the association of abdominal obesity as a risk factor for ischemic stroke. 

Stroke, now the number one cause of mortality and morbidity in Bangladesh & 85% cases are ischemic stroke. Though abdominal obesity that is,  increase waist circumference(WC) & increase waist to hip ratio(WHR) became established as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, still its association with stroke is less clear. Here we wanted to explore the association of abdominal obesity with ischaemic stroke in Bangladesh perspective.

A case control study carried out in Neurology department & other medicine units of Chittagong medical college and hospital from February 2015 to January 2016. The 90 cases were taken from the admitted cases in those departments and diagnosed as Ischemic stroke by CT scan  of head. The same number of controls taken from age & sex matched healthy attendants of the patients admitted in those departments during study. The cut off value of WC (90cm in men & 80 cm in women), WHR (.9 in men & .8 in women) & WC was measured in standard method, midway between costal margin & iliac crest as per International Diabetic Federation (IDF).

Both WHR (63.3% in cases & 26.7% in controls) and increase WC (66.7% in cases & 25.6% in controls) were significant (P<.05) and showed marked strength of association (OR >1) in ischaemic stroke patients. After adjusting the significant risk factors in all age and sex matched cases and controls by conditional logistic regression analysis, WHR & WC still showed significant strength of association with ischaemic stroke in all groups  both female and male.

So, in the light of current study we may suggest that abdominal obesity defined as increase waist circumference and waist to hip ratio attribute considerably to the estimate of ischemic stroke events.