Relationship between CRP gene polymorphisms and ischemic stroke risk: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Ischemic stroke (IS), usually caused due to an abrupt blockage of an artery, is the leading cause of disability and the second leading cause of death worldwide. The association of the C-reactive protein (CRP) gene (s3093059 T/C and rs1205 C/T) polymorphisms and IS susceptibility has been widely studied, but the results remain inconsistent. Our study aimed to assess the association between CRP gene (s3093059 T/C and rs1205 C/T) polymorphisms and IS risk. PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang databases were searched up to April 2022 to identify eligible studies. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) score was calculated to assess study quality. The odd ratios (ORs) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to assess the association between CRP gene (rs3093059 T/C and rs1205 C/T) polymorphisms and IS risk. Eighteen case–control studies with 6339 cases and 29580 controls were identified. We found that CRP (s3093059 T/C and rs1205 C/T) polymorphism was not significantly associated with the risk of IS in any genetic model (recessive model: OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.79–1.26; OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.90–1.25). When stratified analysis by country, genotype method, source of controls, and NOS score, still no statistically significant association was found. Our study indicated that the CRP (rs3093059 T/C and rs1205 C/T) polymorphisms were not associated with the susceptibility to IS.