Relationship between vascular factors and white matter low attenuation of the brain.

To study the relationship between vascular factors and white matter low attenuation of the brain (WMLA), computer tomography findings of 251 patients were re-interpreted. Clinical data on patients were collected from the hospital records. It was possible to obtain sufficient clinical data on 204 patients who were included in the study. WMLA changes, on computer tomography, were found in 51.5% of patients. WMLA was most commonly present in patients with vascular (69.8%) and combined (69.2%) dementia. The occurrence of WMLA did not differ between patients with Alzheimer's disease (26.7%) and those without dementia (35.9%). Arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, or diabetes were not associated with WMLA. Heart failure and orthostatic hypotension, were found to be more commonly present in patients with than in those without WMLA (34.0% vs 14.3%, p = 0.0012; 10.0% vs 2.0%, p = 0.036). Both systolic and diastolic low blood pressure values were associated with WMLA unlike hypertensive blood pressure values. Atrial fibrillation in electrocardiography was associated with WMLA, while neither left ventricular hypertrophy nor myocardial infarction was. When several explanatory variables were adjusted by logistic regression analysis, age, heart failure, and systolic blood pressure below 130 predicted WMLA. In conclusion, the association between WMLA and vascular factors with hemodynamic significance suggests that cerebral hypoperfusion may contribute to the genesis of WMLA.