title: Elevated plasma total cholesterol level is associated with the risk of asymptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intracranial arterial stenosis (ICAS) is one of the most common causes of stroke, and dyslipidemia was one of the most common risk factors related to ICAS. However, the correlation between the plasma total cholesterol level (PTC) and ICAS, especially asymptomatic ICAS (AICAS) is not clear.
  
  
  METHODS
  5,300 participants were enrolled in this study. The diagnosis of AICAS was made by transcranial Doppler ultrasonography. The participants were then divided into 5 essentially equal-sized groups based on their PTC levels. The multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the correlation between the PTC level and the prevalence of AICAS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  13.0% of the participants were diagnosed with AICAS. The prevalence of AICAS gradually increased with the increasing PTC level. After adjusted by the possible confounding factors, the Odds Ratios (OR) of the AICAS prevalence between the 1st quintile group and the other 4 groups were 1.13, 1.23, 1.63 and 1.75 with 95% confident intervals (CI) of 0.84-1.52, 0.91-1.66, 1.20-2.22 and 1.23-2.47, respectively. The further subgroup analysis revealed that the PTC level was stronger for males (OR 1.42 95%CI 1.23-1.64), regarding the prevalence of AICAS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this large community-based study, the prevalence of AICAS is 13.0%, subjects with higher PTC levels showed a mild increase in the prevalence of AICAS. The PTC level is an independent risk factor of AICAS. Males seem to be significantly more vulnerable to the risk of AICAS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jianwei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Weikai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chunxue
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America; Department of Nutrition, Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Anxin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Kailuan Hospital, Hebei United University, Tangshan, China.
authors.forename: Shouling
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xingquan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications; D020765:Intracranial Arterial Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial
chemical_list: D002784:Cholesterol