Combined effect of hypertension and hyperuricemia on ischemic stroke in a rural Chinese population

Background To investigate the combined effect of hypertension and hyperuricemia to the risk of ischemic stroke in a rural Chinese population. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted from 2012 to 2013 in a rural area of China. After exclusion for missing data, we finally included 11,731 participants into analysis. Results After adjusting for age, current smoking, current drinking, BMI, TG, HDL-C and eGFR, hypertension was significantly associated with ischemic stroke in men (OR: 2.783, 95% CI: 1.793, 4.320) and in women (OR: 4.800, 95% CI: 2.945, 7.822). However, hyperuricemia was significantly associated with ischemic stroke only in women (OR: 1.888, 95% CI: 1.244, 2.864). After full adjustment, participants with both hypertension and hyperuricemia had 8.9 times higher risk than those without them. Finally, the interaction between hypertension and hyperuricemia was statistically significant only in women rather than in men after full adjustment. Conclusions This study demonstrated the positive correlations between hypertension, hyperuricemia and ischemic stroke. Our study also demonstrated the joint effect between hypertension and hyperuricemia towards ischemic stroke only in women, not in men.