Impact of obesity and the metabolic syndrome on risk factors in African American stroke survivors: a report from the AAASPS.

Background: The rates of obesity and the metabolic syndrome and the impact on traditional vascular risk factors in African American stroke survivors are unknown.

Objective: To describe the relationships between body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) and hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus.

Design: We classified 1711 subjects as underweight (BMI, <18.