Key result
Left ventricular relative wall thickness ≥0.52 was strongly associated with white matter lesions in stroke patients (OR 2.78; 95% CI 1.59-4.88), proving to be a stronger risk factor than hypertension.
Why the study?
What are the specific determinants of white matter lesions in stroke patients?
Observational (n=321)
What are the specific determinants of white matter lesions in stroke patients?
Odds Ratio: 2.78 (95% CI 1.59–4.88)
Left ventricular relative wall thickness is a stronger modifiable risk factor for white matter lesions than hypertension in stroke patients.
Potential echocardiographic markers of WMLs in stroke need prospective validation; Level 5 data leave open causal and clinical roles.
Hypertension is the main risk factor for both white matter lesions (WMLs) and stroke, but many stroke patients do not have WMLs. To find specific determinants of WMLs, the authors assessed 321 ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke patients who had undergone echocardiography. The patients with WMLs (n=160) were more often hypertensive and had a higher systolic blood pressure than the patients without WMLs. However, in a multivariate analysis, only the following variables remained associated with WMLs: (1) age: odds ratio [OR], 1.08 per year (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-1.11); (2) left ventricular relative wall thickness (RWT) ≥0.52: OR, 2.78 (95% CI, 1.59-4.88); (3) lacunar strokes: OR, 4.15 (95% CI, 1.83-9.44); (4) hemorrhagic strokes: OR, 5.36 (95% CI, 1.57-18.39); and (5) female: OR, 1.91 (95% CI, 1.12-3.27). Thus, the main modifiable risk factor for WMLs was RWT, which proved to be an even stronger risk factor than hypertension. This suggests that RWT might be a useful target in the treatment of hypertension to counteract the appearance of WMLs.
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Muscari et al. (2016) conducted an observational in Ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke (n=321). Left ventricular relative wall thickness (RWT) ≥0.52 vs. RWT <0.52 was evaluated on Presence of white matter lesions (WMLs) (OR 2.78, 95% CI 1.59-4.88). Left ventricular relative wall thickness ≥0.52 was strongly associated with white matter lesions in stroke patients (OR 2.78; 95% CI 1.59-4.88), proving to be a stronger risk factor than hypertension.
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