High Consumption of Cooking Oil and Risk of Stroke in Yangon General Hospital

Abstract

Background: Stroke is preventable by carefully controlling diet and physical activities; however, less attention or priority has been given so far. In Myanmar, stroke is the leading cause of death and an estimated 56,224 or 14.14% of total deaths in Myanmar are from stroke. Therefore, it is important to find out the major risk factors contributing to having stroke.

Objectives: To attain knowledge about incidence of stroke and its main risk factors and to find if there is an association between high consumption of cooking oil and risk of stroke.

Methods: A hospital based case-control study was conducted from July to August 2016 at Yangon General Hospital (YGH) located in Yangon, the capital city of Myanmar. The study population was stroke patients admitted at the Department of Medical Neurology and general patients admitted at the orthopedic ward 1 and 2 of YGH. Two-sample t test, chi-square tests and binary logistic regression were used to investigate the association between a high consumption of cooking oil and risk of stroke.

Results: Overall, after the adjustment of known stroke risk factors such as age, physical activity, family history and other food consumptions, consumption of more than 16 milliliters of cooking oil per day was associated with risk of stroke (OR = 5.658, lower limit: 1.331 and upper limit: 24.058 of 95% CI). Control group who did not consume groundnut oil (OR = 0.228, lower limit: 0.057 and upper limit: 0.913 of 95% CI) and sesame oil (OR = 0.090, lower limit: 0.013 and upper limit: 0.619 of 95%) was less likely to develop stroke. Conclusion: This study suggests immediate need for further intervention to promote public awareness for rational use of cooking oil across Myanmar for prevention of stroke. Health care providers need to focus more on preventing stroke among people with lower education level and lower income and also to identify other risk factors that influence an increased risk of stroke.