title: Risk factors for silent cerebral infarction in the elderly.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A silent cerebral infarction (SCI) is often found in the elderly. However, studies on SCIs focusing on an elderly population are sparse. Our objective was to evaluate risk factors of SCIs in healthy elderly individuals.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred seventy-five neurologically normal community-dwelling Japanese people aged >/=65 years (128 men and 47 women; 77.5 +/- 8.7 years) were studied. Among them we assessed the demographic data and detected SCIs on brain magnetic resonance imaging scans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty four subjects had at least one SCI. Hypertension and low body mass index (BMI) were the significant risks for SCIs in multivariate analysis adjusted for age, sex and other risk factors. Mean BMI in subjects with SCIs was significantly lower than those without SCIs (20.8 +/- 3.2 kg/m(2) vs. 22.1 +/- 3.2 kg/m(2)). In the subgroup analysis by age stratum regarding hypertension and BMI, hypertension was a significant risk factor in subjects aged 65-75 years. Lower BMI had a significant risk in subjects aged >/=81 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hypertension and increasing age have been recognized as risk factors for SCIs, and low BMI might be a significant risk especially in superelderly subjects. Further data with a larger sample size is needed to confirm the relationship between BMI and SCIs among the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan. kakotani@grape.med.tottori-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kotani
authors.forename: Yoneatsu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Osaki
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakane
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.forename: Yasutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishimaru
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors