Introduction:
Community-based studies that report prevalence of intracranial artery stenosis (ICAS) assessed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are scarce.
Hypothesis:
We aim to describe the prevalent ICAS using MRI in a general population of Japanese men, and tested the hypothesis that ICAS was associated with conventional cardiovascular risk factors.
Methods:
The Shiga Epidemiological Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis (SESSA) randomly recruited and examined participants from Kusatsu City, Shiga, Japan in 2006-2008. Among 853 male participants in the follow-up exam (2012-2015), we performed 1.5-tesla MRI. All images were evaluated by two board-certified neurosurgeons (by the Japan Neurosurgical Society) who were blinded to participant clinical background. Each artery was graded as no stenosis, <50% stenosis, <99% stenosis and complete occlusion. We defined any-ICAS as ICAS of any grade and heavy-ICAS as ≥50% stenosis. We used multivariable logistic regression to assess independent association between ICAS and risk factors including hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), dyslipidemia, smoking, drinking, obesity (body mass index ≥30kg/m
2
) and history of stroke.
Results:
We analyzed 740 men (47-85 years old, mean age 70.0 years) who completed MRI with no missing pertinent information. Thirty-one individuals (4.2%) had history of stroke. We observed at least one lesion of any-ICAS and heavy-ICAS in 30.5% and 6.5% of the participants, respectively. Any-ICAS was most commonly identified in internal carotid artery (21.6% of the entire participants) followed by middle cerebral artery (11.7%). Older age, hypertension, DM, dyslipidemia and prevalent stroke was associated with ICAS. Hypertension and DM were particularly strongly associated with heavy-ICAS (Table). Results were similar when excluding those with stroke history.
Conclusions:
This is the first study on prevalence of ICAS and its association with conventional cardiovascular risk factors in a general population of Japanese men. The prevalence of ICAS in Japanese men and the association with primary risk factors of cardiovascular diseases are revealed and they could be a target for prevention of stroke.