Relationship of arterial stiffness and baseline vascular burden with new lacunes and microbleeds: A longitudinal cohort study

• Published in: European stroke journal 2024-03, Vol.9 (1), p.251-258
• Main Authors: Mena, Luis, Mengual, Juan José, García-Sánchez, Sonia María, Avellaneda-Gómez, Carla, Font, Maria Àngels, Montull, Caterina, Castrillo, Laura, Blanch, Pedro, Castellanos, Pere, Lleixa, Mercè, Martín-Baranera, Montserrat, Armario, Pedro, Gómez-Choco, Manuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original s
• ISSN: 2396-9873; 2396-9881
• DOI: 10.1177/23969873231207764

Introduction: Arterial stiffness may have a significant impact on the development of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD). Patients and methods: We obtained pulse wave velocity (24-h PWV) by means of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in patients with a recent small subcortical infarct (RSSI). Patients with known cardiac or arterial embolic sources were excluded. Lacunes, microbleeds, white matter hyperintensities and enlarged perivascular spaces at baseline were assessed in a brain MRI and included in a cSVD score. A follow-up MRI was obtained 2 years later and assessed for the appearance of new lacunes or microbleeds. We constructed both unadjusted and adjusted models, and subsequently selected the optimal models based on the area under the curve (AUC) of the predicted probabilities. Results: Ninety-two patients (mean age 67.04 years, 69.6% men) were evaluated and 25 had new lacunes or microbleeds during follow-up. There was a strong correlation between 24-h PWV and age (r = 0.942, p