Cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMH): an analysis of cerebrovascular risk factors in Lebanon

Background: Cerebral white matter hyperdensities (WMH) are frequently reported on brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) of elderly people; its significance is still under debate. Methods: WMH subtypes may correlate with vascular risk factors, such as aging, hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM). The suggested hypothesis was to find if any of the periventricular WMH (PVWMH) or the deep WMH (DWMH) would be significantly more correlated with the above vascular risk factors. According to the Fazekas semiquantitative rating scale, we classified WMH into four subtypes: (1) absence of WMH, (2) presence of DWML, (3) presence of PVWMH, (4) presence of both DWML and PVWML. The study was performed on 257 Lebanese inpatients aged 40 years and above who underwent a brain MRI, regardless of their underlying pathology and who were admitted to an Internal Medicine Department in Beirut. The study patients were categorized into five subgroups by age intervals of 10 years. Results: Mean age was 62; 54.1% were female...