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. 2022 Nov-Dec;25(6):1159-1166.
doi: 10.4103/aian.aian_530_22. Epub 2022 Dec 3.

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Environmental Toxic Metal Contaminants and the Risk of Ischemic Stroke

Priya Dev  1 , Priya Gupta  2 , Archisman Mahapatra  2 , Mareena Cyriac  1 , Amit Kumar  3 , Varun Kumar Singh  1 , Vijaya Nath Mishra  1 , Abhishek Pathak  1
Affiliations

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Environmental Toxic Metal Contaminants and the Risk of Ischemic Stroke

Priya Dev et al. Ann Indian Acad Neurol. 2022 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

Background: Stroke is the second largest cause of mortality (WHO 2014) and long-lasting disability worldwide. Many risk factors are associated with stroke, such as age, gender, chronic illnesses, cardiovascular disease, lifestyle, and smoking. With global industrialization, the roles of environmental contaminants and their association with stroke are still unclear and have attracted much more attention.

Materials and methods: We conducted a systematic review on the environmental toxic metal contaminants and the risk of ischemic stroke. A comprehensive literature search was carried out till June 30, 2021 from databases such as PubMed, Science Direct, Embase, and Scopus. The quality of all the articles which met our inclusion criteria was assessed using Newcastle-Ottawa scaling, and four eligible studies were included for our systematic review.

Results: The serum and urine cadmium concentrations were positively associated with the risk of ischemic stroke. There was an inverse association of serum and urine concentrations of mercury (Hg), serum concentration of gold and cerium with ischemic stroke, and the serum and urine concentrations of lead (Pb) had no association with ischemic stroke risk.

Conclusion: The study showed strong associations between heavy metals and ischemic stroke, but more studies are required to prove the associations.

Keywords: Heavy metals; ischemic stroke; meta-analysis; metal contaminants; stroke; systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flowchart
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of pooled random-effects ORs (95% CI) for the association between heavy metal concentrations and ischemic stroke. CI = confidence interval, OR = odds ratio
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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