Literature search
The initial search yielded 72 records from PubMed, EMbase, Scopus, Web of Science, CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), and Google scholar databases. Of them, 22 were excluded after the review of title/abstract, leaving 50 potential studies for full-text information review. Finally, 47 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this study (Fig-1).
Characteristics of eligible studies
The main characteristics of included studies are presented in Table-1. The publication years of the studies included in our analysis ranged from 2003 to 2019. The sample size in each study ranged from 91 to 2890 in IS cases and 44 to 4412 in controls subjects for all the included studies in our meta-analysis. Forty-seven case-control studies (18 studies for SNP45, 12 for SNP56, 29 for SNP83, six for SNP89, five for SNP26, seven for SNP41, four studies for SNP32, and 27 studies for SNP87) were included in our meta-analysis. Studies were carried out in two major ethnic populations; 30 studies were in the Asian while 17 studies were in the Caucasian population. All studies in this meta-analysis had controls in HWE. The quality scores of all included studies were moderately high. Out of 47 studies, 27 studies had hospital-based and 20 studies had a population-based source of controls. Table-1 summarizes the characteristics and methodological quality of all the included studies. In our meta-analysis, a total of 47 case-control studies involving 20644 IS cases and 23201 controls were included.
Relationship between PDE4D SNP 45 gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke risk
No significant relationship was observed between PDE4D SNP45 gene polymorphism and risk of IS, under overall 18 studies, dominant model (OR=1.00, 95% CI=0.95-1.04), recessive model (OR=1.11, 95% CI=0.83-1.47), and allelic model (OR=1.02, 95% CI=0.90-1.16). Upon conducting subgroup analysis on the basis of ethnicity of study population, significant association was observed in Asian population in case of recessive model (OR=2.06, 95% CI=1.31-3.23); but not in dominant model (OR= 0.98, 95% CI= 0.87-1.09) and allelic model (OR=1.32, 95% CI=0.81-2.17) respectively [Fig 2A, 3A, 4A)]. In Caucasian population, no significant association was observed under dominant model (OR= 1.00, 95%CI=0.95-1.05), recessive model (OR=0.98, 95% CI=0.75-1.29) and allelic model (OR=0.97, 95% CI=0.88-1.07) respectively [Fig 2A, 3A, 4A].Table-2 illustrates the summary of findings for overall population and subgroup analyses using different genetic models.
Relationship between PDE4D SNP 56 gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke risk
Our results revealed that there were no significant relationship between PDE4D SNP56 gene polymorphism and risk of IS, under dominant model (OR=1.01, 95% CI=0.96-1.07), recessive model (OR=1.04, 95% CI=0.91-1.18), and allelic model (OR=1.04, 95% CI=0.90-1.20). Upon subgroup analysis of the data on ethnicity of the study population, no significant association was observed in the Asian population under dominant model (OR=1.06, 95% CI=0.94-1.20), recessive model (OR= 1.17, 95% CI=0.87-1.57) and allelic model (OR-1.16, 95% CI=0.87-1.55) respectively [Fig 2B, 3B, 4B)]. Additionally, we did not find any correlation of SNP56 polymorphism with an increased or decreased risk of IS in all the three genetic models in Caucasian population, as can be observed under dominant model (OR= 0.99, 95% CI= 0.93-1.07), recessive model (OR=1.00, 95% CI=0.90-1.11) and allelic model (OR=0.97, 95% CI=0.84-1.12) respectively [Fig 2B, 3B, 4B)].
Relationship between PDE4D SNP 83 gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke risk
For SNP83, upon analysing 29 studies, results showed no significant relationship between PDE4D SNP83 gene polymorphism and risk of IS, under dominant model (OR=0.98, 95% CI=0.94-1.03), and recessive model (OR=1.11, 95% CI=0.97-1.27); but a significant association was observed under allelic model (OR=1.22, 95% CI=1.04-1.42). Upon performing subtype analysis on the basis of ethnicity of the study population, no significant association was observed in the Asian population in dominant model (OR=0.97, 95% CI=0.91-1.03), and recessive model (OR= 1.19, 95% CI=0.97-1.45); but a significant association in allelic model (OR-1.20, 95% CI=1.05-1.37) was observed [Fig 2D, 3D, 4D]. In the Caucasian population, no significant association was observed under dominant model (OR= 1.01, 95% CI= 0.94-1.08), recessive model (OR=0.98, 95% CI=0.89-1.09) and allelic model (OR=1.26, 95% CI=0.80-1.98) respectively [Fig 2D, 3D, 4D].
Relationship between PDE4D SNP 26 gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke risk
For SNP26, we failed to find a significant genetic association between PDE4D SNP26 gene and risk of IS, under overall dominant model (OR=0.99, 95% CI=0.91-1.08), recessive model (OR=0.99, 95% CI=0.89-1.11), and allelic model (OR=0.98, 95%CI=0.89-1.08) [Fig 2F, 3F, 4F].
Relationship between PDE4D SNP 89 gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke risk
We did not find any association of the SNP89 gene polymorphism with increased or decreased risk of stroke under dominant model (OR=1.06, 95% CI=0.88-1.28), recessive model (OR=1.02, 95% CI=0.85-1.24), and allelic model (OR=0.99, 95% CI=085-1.15) respectively. After the data were stratified according to ethnicity of the study population, our results showed significant association in the Asian population under dominant model (OR=1.43, 95%CI=1.29-1.59), and recessive model (OR= 1.42, 95% CI=1.28-1.58); but no significant association was observed in allelic model (OR-0.93, 95% CI=0.74-1.16) [Fig 2E, 3E, 4E]. In the Caucasian population, no significant association was observed under dominant model (OR= 0.97, 95%CI= 0.90-1.05), recessive model (OR=0.97, 95% CI=0.88-1.05) and allelic model (OR=1.00, 95% CI=0.83-1.21) respectively [Fig 2E, 3E, 4E].
Relationship between PDE4D SNP 32 gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke risk
No significant relationship was observed between PDE4D SNP32 gene polymorphism and risk of IS, under overall dominant model (OR=0.89, 95% CI=0.71-1.12), recessive model (OR=1.08, 95% CI=0.82-1.44), and allelic model (OR=1.25, 95%CI=0.96-1.61). Upon conducting subgroup analysis on the basis of ethnicity of study population, no significant association was observed in Asian population under dominant model (OR=0.87, 95% CI=0.65-1.17), recessive model (OR= 1.11, 95% CI=0.73-1.68) and allelic model (OR-1.33, 95% CI=0.94-1.90) respectively [Fig 2H, 3H, 4H]. Also in the Caucasian population, no significant association was observed under dominant model (OR= 0.98, 95%CI= 0.76-1.26), recessive model (OR=1.08, 95% CI=0.78-1.50) and allelic model (OR=1.04, 95% CI=0.81-1.33) respectively [Fig 2H, 3H, 4H].
Relationship between PDE4D SNP 41 gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke risk
The pooled effect among all studies estimates that there were no significant association between PDE4D SNP41 gene polymorphism and risk of IS, under overall dominant model (OR=1.08, 95% CI=0.98-1.19), recessive model (OR=0.91, 95% CI=0.81-1.02), and allelic model (OR=0.89, 95%CI=0.76-1.05) respectively. Upon conducting subgroup analysis on the basis of ethnicity of the study population, no significant association was observed in the Asian population under dominant (OR=1.15, 95% CI=0.98-1.35) and allelic models (OR=0.89, 95% CI=0.70-1.12) respectively. However, a protective association was observed under the recessive model (OR= 0.80, 95% CI=0.66-0.97) [Fig 2G, 3G, 4G]. Also in Caucasian population no significant association was observed under dominant model (OR= 1.07, 95%CI= 0.89-1.30), recessive model (OR=0.98, 95% CI=0.84-1.13) and allelic model (OR=0.89, 95% CI=0.70-1.14) respectively [Fig 2G, 3G, 4G].
Relationship between PDE4D SNP 87 gene polymorphism and ischemic stroke risk
We conducted a meta-analysis for 27 eligible studies. In the overall population, no significant association was observed between SNP87 and IS under dominant model (OR=0.98, 95% CI=0.95-1.02), recessive model (OR=0.99, 95% CI=0.94-1.03), and allelic model (OR=1.04, 95%CI=0.97-1.12) respectively. Eighteen independent analyses of Asian and nine independent analyses of Caucasian populations were conducted. Subgroup analysis on the basis of ethnicity of study population observed no significant association in the Asian population under dominant model (OR=0.98, 95% CI=0.93-1.02), recessive model (OR= 0.99, 95% CI=0.94-1.05) and allelic model (OR-1.06, 95% CI=0.95-1.19) respectively [2C, 3C, 4C]. Also in the Caucasian population, no significant association was observed under dominant model (OR= 0.99, 95% CI= 0.94-1.05), recessive model (OR=0.98, 95% CI=0.90-1.06) and allelic model (OR=1.02, 95% CI=0.94-1.10) respectively [Fig 2C, 3C, 4C].
Publication bias
For SNPs 45, 32, 41, 26, 56, 83, 87, 89, publication bias arising from the literature was qualitatively estimated by funnel plots and quantitatively examined by Begg’s and Egger’s test. It was observed that all the plots were roughly symmetrical, indicating no publication bias was present as shown in the supplementary file as figures: S1-A, S2-A, S3-A, S4-A, S5-A, S6-A, S7-A and S8-A. In addition, visual inspection of statistical evidence did not guarantee that publication bias was absent.
Sensitivity Analyses
Moreover, sensitivity analyses were carried out to assess the influence of each of the SNPs (SNP 45, 32, 41, 26, 56, 83, 87, 89) on the overall study by sequential omission of each eligible study. By removing individual studies, no statistical variation of pooled OR was seen. Our result indicated that no study influenced the quality of the pooled ORs and the current meta-analysis was reliable and robust [Figures: S1-B, S2-B, S3-B, S4-B, S5-B, S6-B, and S7-B].
Meta-regression analysis
Meta-regression analysis based on the quality score for the relationship between PDE4D SNP45 gene polymorphism and the risk of IS did not confirm any deviation from the findings of the meta-analysis (p=0.86) [Figures: S1-C, S2-C, S3-C, S4-C, S5-C, S6-C, S7-C, and S8-B].