Abstract
Background and purpose
Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) may predict future risk for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
ICH is one of the most important complications of aspirin use. The association between
aspirin use and CMBs is still controversial. In this context, we sought to investigate
whether aspirin use is associated with CMBs in subjects without previous history of
stroke.
Methods
Asymptomatic elderly subjects (n=1452; age≥65 years) who visited for routine health check-ups were included in this study. CMBs
were evaluated through T2*-weighted gradient-recalled echo MRI. Information about
aspirin or warfarin use was obtained using a structured questionnaire.
Results
A total of 138 subjects (9.5%) were found to have CMBs. In the group of aspirin use,
43 subjects (11.2%) had CMBs; among them 9 (2.3%) had strictly lobar microbleeds and
34 (8.9%) had deep or infratentorial microbleeds. Compared with the non-use group,
the risk for CMBs did not increase in the group of aspirin use (adjusted odds ratio,
1.10; 95% confidence interval, 0.73–1.66). For the group of aspirin use above 5 years, the proportion of CMBs (11.1%) did not increase compared with the group of
short-term use (≤5 years, 9.5%, p=0.99) and non-use group (8.9%, p=0.66).
Conclusions
We found that the prevalence of CMBs did not increase in the group of aspirin use,
and the presence of CMBs was not associated with the duration of aspirin use in asymptomatic
elderly subjects without a history of stroke or transient ischemic attack.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of the Neurological SciencesAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Hemorrhage burden predicts recurrent intracerebral hemorrhage after lobar hemorrhage.Stroke. 2004; 35: 1415-1420
- Cerebral microbleeds predict first-ever symptomatic cerebrovascular events.Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2009; 111: 825-828
- Aspirin in the primary and secondary prevention of vascular disease: collaborative meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomised trials.Lancet. 2009; 373: 1849-1860
- Risk of hemorrhagic stroke with aspirin use: an update.Stroke. 2005; 36: 1801-1807
- Aspirin and recurrent intracerebral hemorrhage in cerebral amyloid angiopathy.Neurology. 2010; 75: 693-698
- Antithrombotic drug use, cerebral microbleeds, and intracerebral hemorrhage: a systematic review of published and unpublished studies.Stroke. 2010; 41: 1222-1228
- Use of antithrombotic drugs and the presence of cerebral microbleeds: the Rotterdam Scan Study.Arch Neurol. 2009; 66: 714-720
- Aspirin treatment increases the risk of cerebral microbleeds.Can J Neurol Sci. 2011; 38: 863-868
- Cerebral microbleeds in ischemic stroke patients on warfarin treatment.Stroke. 2009; 40: 3638-3640
- Cerebral microbleeds in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage are associated with previous cerebrovascular diseases and white matter hyperintensity, but not with regular use of antiplatelet agents.Neurol Med Chir (Tokyo). 2009; 49: 333-338
- Metabolic syndrome as an independent risk factor of silent brain infarction in healthy people.Stroke. 2006; 37: 466-470
- Age-independent association of pulse pressure with cerebral white matter lesions in asymptomatic elderly individuals.J Hypertens. 2011; 29: 325-329
- Significant association of metabolic syndrome with silent brain infarction in elderly people.J Neurol. 2009; 256: 1825-1831
- Clinical diagnosis of cerebral amyloid angiopathy: validation of the Boston criteria.Neurology. 2001; 56: 537-539
- Prevalence and risk factors of cerebral microbleeds: the Rotterdam Scan Study.Neurology. 2008; 70: 1208-1214
- Cerebral amyloid angiopathy: a systematic review.J Clin Neurol. 2011; 7: 1-9
- Silent cerebral microbleeds on T2*-weighted MRI: correlation with stroke subtype, stroke recurrence, and leukoaraiosis.Stroke. 2002; 33: 1536-1540
Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 28, 2012
Accepted:
May 4,
2012
Received in revised form:
April 20,
2012
Received:
March 22,
2012
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.