Article Text
Abstract
Objective The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to provide evidence that biomarkers of large artery atherosclerosis, including arterial stenosis and greater carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), may serve as clinical markers of subclinical haemorrhage-prone cerebral small vessel disease, reflected by cerebral microbleeds (CMBs).
Methods We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library to identify relevant studies published before 1 July 2016. The association between arterial stenosis and CMBs was estimated by the OR and 95% CI. The association of cIMT and CMBs was calculated using the standardised mean difference (SMD). Heterogeneity and publication bias were explored.
Results 8 studies including a total of 7160 participants were pooled in the meta-analysis. 6 of the included studies were cross-sectional, except that 2 were prospective. We found a significant association between arterial stenosis >50% and the presence of CMBs (OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.13 to 3.36, I2=56.1%). A fixed-effects model suggested that patients with CMBs were more likely to have a greater cIMT (SMD 0.20, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.28, I2=24.7%).
Conclusions This systematic review and meta-analysis found that there is a relationship between large artery atherosclerosis and CMBs. Future studies are needed to confirm the impact of atherosclerosis on the CMBs, which may have potential therapeutic implications.
- cerebral microbleeds
- intima-media thickness
- Atherosclerosis
- arterial stenosis
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Footnotes
Contributors BP designed the study, and revised the manuscript. LD collected and extracted data, and drafted the manuscript. YH collected and extracted data.
Funding This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 81471206) and the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (grant number 7152121).
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement No additional data are available.