title: Asymptomatic cerebral microbleeds seen in healthy subjects have a strong association with asymptomatic lacunar infarction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cerebral microbleed (CMB), which is conspicuous on gradient-echo T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, is a risk factor of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). CMBs have been detected even in neurologically healthy persons, who also seem prone to be affected by stroke, not only ICH but also cerebral infarction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The presence of CMB was investigated in brain dock participants, making reference to silent lacunar infarction (SLI). Participants comprised 377 neurologically healthy persons and 21 (5.6%) had CMB detected, which was associated with a high incidence of hypertension, other conventional risk factors having no significant correlation with CMB. In a simple correlation analysis, CMB showed a positive association with age and systolic blood pressure (SBP). Logistic regression analysis revealed that SLI was the factor most strongly associated with CMB. Moreover, individuals who had both CMB and SLI had higher SBP than other groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The etiology of CMB is similar to that of SLI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatric Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Sitsukawa, Toon 791-0295, Japan. migase@m.ehime-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Michiya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Igase
authors.forename: Yasuharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tabara
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Igase
authors.forename: Tokihisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Namiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ochi
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kido
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nakura
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sadamoto
authors.forename: Katsuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kohara
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001794:Blood Pressure; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007427:Intracranial Pressure; D016015:Logistic Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008833:Microcirculation; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index