Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Aug 13:12:1756286419869532.
doi: 10.1177/1756286419869532. eCollection 2019.

The prevalence of intracranial stenosis in patients at low and moderate risk of stroke

Hong-Xiu Chen  1 , Li-Juan Wang  1 , Yi Yang  1 , Fei-Xue Yue  1 , Li-Min Chen  1 , Ying-Qi Xing  2
Affiliations
Free PMC article

The prevalence of intracranial stenosis in patients at low and moderate risk of stroke

Hong-Xiu Chen et al. Ther Adv Neurol Disord. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Previous studies assessing the risk of stroke in the general population performed screening with Doppler ultrasonography only for high-risk patients and neglected low- and moderate-risk patients. The aims of this study were to explore the current prevalence of intracranial arterial stenosis (ICAS) and analyze its association with different levels of stroke risk and risk factors based on the risk assessment scale for stroke used in China.

Methods: A total of 3654 participants who underwent transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) were eligible for inclusion. Information regarding demographic characteristics and risk factors such as alcohol consumption and hypertension was collected through interviews and questionnaires and used to analyze the association of ICAS with different levels of stroke risk and risk factors.

Results: The mean age of 501 subjects diagnosed with at least one ICAS was higher than that of participants without ICAS (57.13 ± 9.56 years and 55.52 ± 9.35 years, respectively). After adjusting for confounding factors, gender, education, residence, hypertension and personal history of stroke were associated with ICAS. The odds ratios for ICAS in patients with hypertension and a personal history of stroke were 1.655 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.341-2.043] and 1.854 (95% CI: 1.371-2.508), respectively. In addition, participants in the low- and moderate-risk stroke groups accounted for an unexpectedly high proportion of individuals with ICAS (up to 38.3%). Results from multivariate analyses indicated that the adjusted odds ratios for ICAS in patients with moderate and high stroke risks versus those with a low stroke risk were 1.603 (95% CI: 1.171-2.195) and 1.612 (95% CI: 1.272-2.042), respectively.

Conclusion: The prevalence of ICAS is high in northeast China and increases with the level of stroke risk. However, the proportion of patients with ICAS among those with low and moderate stroke risks should also be noted.

Keywords: intracranial arterial stenosis; risk factor; stroke screening; transcranial Doppler ultrasound.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Study flowchart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Gorelick PB, Wong KS, Bae HJet al. Large artery intracranial occlusive disease: a large worldwide burden but a relatively neglected frontier. Stroke 2008; 39: 2396–2399. - PubMed
    1. Qureshi AI, Feldmann E, Gomez CRet al. Intracranial atherosclerotic disease: an update. Ann Neurol 2009; 66: 730–738. - PubMed
    1. Wong LK. Global burden of intracranial atherosclerosis. Int J Stroke 2006; 1: 158–159. - PubMed
    1. Jeng JS, Tang SC, Liu HM. Epidemiology, diagnosis and management of intracranial atherosclerotic disease. Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther 2010; 8: 1423–1432. - PubMed
    1. Suwanwela NC, Chutinetr A. Risk factors for atherosclerosis of cervicocerebral arteries: intracranial versus extracranial. Neuroepidemiology 2003; 22: 37–40. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources