Prevalence and risk factors of cerebral white matter changes and silent infarcts on brain computed tomography scans among community-dwelling healthy adults: The PRESENT project

ABSTRACT

Cerebral white matter changes (WMCs) and silent brain infarcts (SBIs) are common radiologic findings in neurologically asymptomatic elderly people, but are associated with an increased risk of subsequent stroke. We investigated the prevalence and risk factors for these cerebral changes on brain computed tomography (CT) in 480 community-dwelling healthy Korean adults without stroke or dementia, who were recruited for an early health program. Cerebral WMCs were defined as the presence of approximately 5 mm wide ill-defined and moderately hypodense lesions, and SBIs were defined as the presence of >2 mm wide well-defined hypodense lesions. Of the 480 patients, 49 (10.2%) had cerebral WMCs and SBIs findings on brain CT. The prevalence of WMCs and SBIs increased with age: the prevalence was 2.4%, 9%, and 32% for subjects in their 50, 60s, and 70s, respectively. In addition, hypertension, abdominal obesity, increased levels of homocysteine and high sensitivity C-reactive protein were significantly associated with cerebral WMCs and SBIs. Our study suggests that regular monitoring of risk factors is required to prevent cerebral WMCs and SBIs and decrease the incidence of stroke and dementia in healthy individuals.