Vertebral Artery Occlusive Disease: Data from the Angiographically Confirmed Vertebral Artery Disease Registry

• Published in: Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases 2018-11, Vol.27 (11), p.3294-3300
• Main Authors: Qureshi, Adnan I., Babar, Sehar, Saeed, Omar, Saleem, Muhammad A., Wallery, Shawn S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: angiography; posterior circulation disease; risk factors; Vertebral artery disease; vertebral artery occlusive disease
• ISSN: 1052-3057; 1532-8511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2018.07.026

We performed this study to identify demographic, clinical, and angiographic characteristics of adult patients with angiographically confirmed vertebral artery occlusive disease (VAOD) and associated risk factors. The demographic and clinical characteristics, and angiographic features were ascertained using predefined criteria. Controls were selected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys matched according to age, sex, and ethnicity. A stepwise logistic regression for odds ratio (OR) was performed to identify the effects of risk factors on occurrence of VAOD. Of 56 patients with VAOD (mean age ± standard deviation [SD]; 65.4 ± 11.7years, 44.6% women), 37.5% were classified as suffering from moderate stenosis (50%-69%), 16.1% from severe stenosis (70%-99%), and 46.4% from occlusion of at least 1 vertebral artery. There was a significantly higher severity of stenosis (percentage with SD; 88.1 ± 16.5 versus 75.4 ± 20.8, P = .02) and frequency of bilateral vertebral artery disease in patients with ischemic symptoms (40.9% versus 8.8%, P = .004). In the multivariate analysis, hypertension (OR 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-6.5), diabetes mellitus (OR 2.5; 95% CI, 1.4-4.6), coronary artery disease (OR 3.2; 95% CI, 1.7-6.0), and active cigarette smoking (OR 3.1; 95% CI, 1.5-6.3) were significantly associated with vertebral artery disease. Severity of stenosis and bilateral involvement were associated with symptomatic VAOD. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, and active cigarette smoking were associated with occurrence of VAOD.