Prevalence and risk factors of MRI-defined brain infarcts among Chinese adults

Jing Wu; Yongxiang Gao; Vasanti Malik; Xiang Gao; Ruiqi Shan; Jun Lv; Yi Ning; Bo Wang; Liming Li

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.967077

Prevalence and risk factors of MRI-defined brain infarcts among Chinese adults

Front Neurol. 2022 Oct 12:13:967077. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.967077. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jing Wu¹, Yongxiang Gao², Vasanti Malik³, Xiang Gao⁴, Ruiqi Shan¹, Jun Lv^{1

5}, Yi Ning^{2

6}, Bo Wang^{2

5}, Liming Li^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.
² Meinian Institute of Health, Beijing, China.
³ Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, State College, PA, United States.
⁵ Meinian Public Health Institute, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing, China.
⁶ School of Public Health, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China.

Abstract

Background: Few studies have explored the prevalence and risk factors of brain infarcts (BI) detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in China. The purpose was to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of brain infarcts (BI) detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 1.4 million Chinese adults.

Methods: This was a multicenter cross-sectional study conducted on 1,431,527 participants aged ≥18 years (mean age: 46.4 years) who underwent MRI scans in health examinations from 28 provinces of China in 2018. MRI-defined BI was defined as focal parenchymal lesions ≥3 mm. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate risk factors associated with MRI-defined BI.

Results: The age- and sex-standardized prevalence of MRI-defined BI, lacunar and non-lacunar infarcts were 5.79% (5.75-5.83%), 4.56% (4.52-4.60%), and 1.23% (1.21-1.25%), respectively. The sex-standardized prevalence of MRI-defined BI ranged from 0.46% among those aged 18-29 years to 37.33% among those aged ≥80 years. Men (6.30%) had a higher age-standardized prevalence of MRI-defined BI than women (5.28%). The highest age- and sex-standardized prevalence of MRI-defined BI was observed in the Northwest (8.34%) and Northeast (8.02%) regions, while the lowest prevalence was observed in the Southwest (4.02%). A higher risk of MRI-defined BI was associated with being male [odd ratio (OR) 1.17, 95% CI 1.15-1.19], older age (OR per 10-year increments 2.33, 2.31-2.35), overweight (1.12, 1.10-1.14) or obesity (1.18, 1.16-1.21), hypertension (1.80, 1.77-1.83), diabetes (1.24, 1.21-1.26), and dyslipidemia (1.07, 1.05-1.08).

Conclusion: MRI-defined BI is highly prevalent in China, even among young adults. MRI-defined BI was associated with being male, older age, living in the northern region, and metabolic conditions.

Keywords: MRI; brain infarcts; epidemiological study; prevalence; risk factors.