ABSTRACT
Objective:To investigate the relationship between plasma beta-2 microglobulin(β2M)levels and the total magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)burden of cerebral small-vessel disease(CSVD)in elderly patients with lacunar stroke.Methods:A total of 93 elderly patients with lacunar stroke admitted to the Department of Neurology, Changzhou Second People's Hospital form August 2018 to August 2019 were enrolled retrospectively, all with complete records of cranial magnetic resonance imaging and plasma β2M measurement.According to the total MRI CSVD burden, which ranges from an ordinal score of 0 to 4, patients were divided into 5 groups.Single-factor analysis was used to compare clinical data between the 5 groups.The association between the plasma β2M level and total MRI CSVD burden was analyzed by ordered multiple Logistic regression models.Results:Among elderly patients with lacunar infarction, 19 had a CSVD score of 0, 19 had a score of 1, 23 had a score of 2, 21 had a score of 3, and 11 had a score of 4, with statistically significant differences in age, percentage with diabetes, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin, plasma β2M, and eGFR between the 5 groups( P<0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that plasma β2M level was significantly positively correlated with total MRI CSVD burden( r=0.687, P<0.001). In ordered multivariate logistic regression models, after adjustment for possible confounding factors such as age, sex and hypertension, the results demonstrated that plasma β2M level( OR=5.253, 95% CI: 2.350-11.740, P<0.001)was an independent risk factor for total MRI CSVD burden. Conclusions:In elderly lacunar stroke patients, the plasma β2M level is closely related to the total MRI CSVD burden and can be used as a marker for predicting the severity of lesions.