title: Risk factors and etiological subtype analysis of brainstem infarctions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the features of risk factors and etiological subtypes of brainstem infarctions (BSIs) patients in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and ninety-nine cerebral infarction patients with brainstem involvement were categorized into five groups according to Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment classification: large artery disease (LAD), cardioembolism (CE), small vessel disease (SVD), stroke of other determined etiology (SOE) or stroke of undetermined etiology (SUE). The risk factors and percentage of the different etiological subtypes were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 199 patients were enrolled in this study. The number and percentage of patients in SVD, LAD, SUE, CE and SOE were 77 (38.7%), 74 (37.2%), 25 (12.6%), 23 (11.6%) and 0, respectively. There were significantly different incidences of hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD) without atrial fibrillation (AF) among different stroke subtypes (P=0.006, P=0.002, P=0.016, respectively). Hypertension was more prevalent in LAD than in SVD and CE (P=0.001 and P=0.039, respectively) while the incidence of diabetes in LAD was higher than those in SVD and CE (P<0.001 and P=0.015, respectively). CHD without AF was more prevalent in CE than in SVD and LAD (P=0.044 and P=0.012, respectively). LAD was significantly associated with hypertension (OR=3.18, P=0.009) and diabetes (OR=2.84, P=0.003) in BSIs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pattern of etiological subtypes of BSIs in China has its own characteristics. It might result from the features of risk factors in Chinese patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China.
authors.forename: Yinyao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 52 Meihuadong Road, Zhuhai, Guangdong 519000, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China.
authors.forename: Bingjun
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China.
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China.
authors.forename: Suqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China.
authors.forename: Shaoyang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China.
authors.forename: Xuejiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Men
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China. Electronic address: lzq1828@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhengqi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000473:pathology*; D020526:Brain Stem Infarctions / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Acute stroke treatment; Atrial fibrillation; Brainstem infarctions; Etiology; Hypertension; Risk factors