Association of Coronary Stenosis with Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases in Neurologically Asymptomatic Adults

Background The high prevalence of coronary stenosis in patients with stroke is well established. However, the association between coronary stenosis and cerebral small vessel diseases (cSVD) in asymptomatic populations remains unclear. Methods As a cross-sectional study, we evaluated South Korean adults who underwent a health checkup including brain magnetic resonance imaging and coronary computed tomography angiography between January 2010 and December 2013. The degree of coronary stenosis was classified into three groups: no stenosis (0%), non-significant stenosis (1–49%), and significant stenosis (≥50%). cSVD includes silent lacunar infarction (SLI), cerebral microbleeds (CMB), and white matter hyperintensity (WMH). We used binary logistic regression analyses for SLI and CMB, and linear regression analysis for WMH. Results A total of 1,571 participants were evaluated. The prevalence of non-significant and significant coronary stenosis was 369 (23.5%) and 95 (6.1%), respectively. The prevalence of SLI and CMB was 112 (7.1%) and 66 (4.2%), respectively. The mean WMH volume was 2.6 ± 6.1 mL. SLI was significantly associated with both non-significant (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.94; p = 0.004) and significant coronary stenosis (aOR = 2.37; p = 0.011), even showing dose-response relationship ( p for trend = 0.012). For WMH, only significant coronary stenosis was associated with WMH (β = 0.27; p = 0.013) and had a dose–response relationship ( p for trend = 0.012). Conclusions The presence and severity of coronary stenosis were significantly associated with SLI and WMH. Physicians who detects any of coronary stenosis or cSVD should pay attention to the possible coexistence of the other disease.