Body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, and body surface area in patients with acute ischaemic stroke in north-eastern Poland

Abstract

Aim of the study: The aim of our study was to analyse the obesity indicators [body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist circumference (WC), and the less-known body adiposity index (BAI)] to assess their influence on the severity and short-term outcome in both females and males after ischaemic stroke admitted over a period of 9 successive months to the Department of Neurology at the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland. Materials and methods: Based on the BMI, we divided the patients into the following groups: underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese. The severity of stroke was evaluated by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). STATA 15 software (StataCorp, 2017) was used for statistical analysis. Results: The results demonstrated that there was no association between the BMI and changes in patient condition during hospitalisation in the stroke unit. The BAI had no clear correlation with the short-term outcome. However, a comparison of accuracy revealed that the BAI was a more precise indicator, and could better predict NIHSS improvement over treatment than the BMI. Among the analysed indicators, only the WC correlated with the difference between the NIHSS scores on admission and at hospital discharge. Conclusions: The BMI, used in clinical practice for decades, is far from a precise predictor of functional outcome after ischaemic stroke. This is the first study that takes into account the obesity indicator BAI in patients after acute ischaemic stroke. According to our results, in the future we should focus more attention on abdominal adiposity indicators such as the BAI or WC.