Blood Glucose Levels Are Associated with Cerebral Microbleeds in Patients with Acute Ischaemic Stroke

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There are debates about the causative role of high blood glucose in cerebral small vessel disease. The relationship between cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) and blood glucose is unclear. METHODS: Patients admitted to our department with acute ischaemic stroke were consecutively and prospectively included. Baseline demographic and clinical covariates were collected and analyzed according to the occurrence and location of CMBs and levels of blood glucose. RESULTS: Of 161 patients included in the final analysis, 69 (42.76%) were women. A total of 80 patients (49.69%) had CMBs. There was a significant trend towards the prevalence of CMBs with increasing glucose quarter (p = 0.001). Post hoc analysis showed the rate of prevalence of CMBs to be significantly higher in the third quarter (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.20-3.02) and fourth quarter (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.21-2.25) than that in the first. The frequencies of deep or infratentorial CMBs differed with glucose quarter. Post hoc analysis showed that frequencies of deep or infratentorial CMBs were significantly more frequent in the third quarter (OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.06-2.87) and fourth quarter (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.19-2.31) than those in the first. CONCLUSIONS: In this prospective study of patients with acute ischaemic stroke, our results showed that glucose was associated with deep or infratentorial CMBs but not with lobar CMBs.