C-reactive protein and cerebral small-vessel disease

Abstract

Evaluation of: van Dijk, Prins ND, Vermeer SE et al. : C-reactive protein and cerebral small-vessel disease. The Rotterdam Study. Circulation 112, 900–905 (2005). Little is known about the pathophysiology of cerebral small-vessel disease-causing cerebral white matter lesions and lacunar brain infarcts, which are associated with an increased risk of stroke, dementia and depression. In the prospective population-based Rotterdam Scan Study, the relationship between C-reactive protein (CRP) and magnetic resonance imaging was assessed: higher CRP levels were associated with a higher prevalence of arteriolosclerotic lesions as well as with progression of these lesions within 3.3 years in subjects aged 60–90 years free of dementia at baseline. This association between inflammation and severity of cerebrovascular disease was independent of other cardiovascular risk factors and severity of carotid atherosclerosis. These data – if confirmed – are important for case findings in an asymptomatic elderly population, for the elucidation of cerebral small-vessel disease processes and possibly for a new therapeutic target of brain disease.