title: Association of mild kidney dysfunction with silent brain lesions in neurologically normal subjects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been closely associated with stroke. Although a large number of studies reported the relationship between CKD and different types of asymptomatic brain lesions, few comprehensive analyses have been performed for all types of silent brain lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a cross-sectional study involving 1,937 neurologically normal subjects (mean age 59.4 years). Mild CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate between 30 and 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2) or positive proteinuria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of mild CKD was 8.7%. Univariate analysis revealed an association between CKD and all silent brain lesions, including silent brain infarction, periventricular hyperintensity, subcortical white matter lesion, and microbleeds, in addition to hypertension and diabetes mellitus after adjusting for age and sex. In binary logistic regression analysis, the presence of CKD was a significant risk factor for all types of silent brain lesions, independent of other risk factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that mild CKD is independently associated with all types of silent brain lesions, even in neurologically normal subjects.
authors: Department of Neurology, Shimane Prefectural Central Hospital, Izumo, Japan.
authors: Genya
authors: G
authors: Toyoda
authors: Department of Neurology, Shimane Prefectural Central Hospital, Izumo, Japan.
authors: Hirokazu
authors: H
authors: Bokura
authors: Department of Neurology, Shimane University, Izumo, Japan.
authors: Shingo
authors: S
authors: Mitaki
authors: Department of Neurology, Shimane University, Izumo, Japan.
authors: Keiichi
authors: K
authors: Onoda
authors: Department of Neurology, Shimane University, Izumo, Japan.
authors: Hiroaki
authors: H
authors: Oguro
authors: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane University, Izumo, Japan.
authors: Atsushi
authors: A
authors: Nagai
authors: Department of Neurology, Shimane University, Izumo, Japan.
authors: Shuhei
authors: S
authors: Yamaguchi
keywords: Chronic kidney disease; Risk factors; Silent brain lesions; Small vessel disease