Vascular risk factors and morphometric data in cervical artery dissection: a case-control study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Limited knowledge exists on vascular risk factors, body height and weight in patients with spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCAD). PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this case-control study, major vascular risk factors, body weight, body height and body mass index (BMI) of 239 patients obtained from a prospective hospital-based sCAD registry were compared with 516 age-and sex-matched healthy controls undergoing systematic health examinations in the Clinical and Preventive Investigations Center, Paris. Gender-specific analyses were performed. RESULTS: The mean body height was higher in sCAD patients than in controls (171.3 cm (SD 8.6) vs 167.7 cm (8.9); p<0.0001) and sCAD patients had a significantly lower mean body weight (67.5 (12.2) kg vs 69.3 (14.6) kg; p<0.001) and mean BMI (22.9 (3.3) kg/m2 vs 24.5 (4.2) kg/m2; p<0.0001) than controls. The overall frequency of hypertension, diabetes, current smoking, past smoking and hypercholesterolaemia did not differ significantly between sCAD patients and controls. The mean total plasma cholesterol level was identical in both groups (5.5 mmol/l, SD 1.1). Gender specific subgroup analyses showed similar results for men and women. CONCLUSION: Patients with sCAD had a higher body height and a lower body weight and BMI than controls, while major vascular risk factors were similar in sCAD patients and controls.

Association of Vascular Risk Factors With Cervical Artery Dissection and Ischemic Stroke in Young Adults

“…The lower mean BMI and lower prevalence of obesity and overweightness in CEAD patients compared with referents are in agreement with recently published results from an independent French group for 239 patients and 516 referents. 19 The lower prevalence of vascular risk factors in CEAD patients compared with young non-CEAD IS patients is in line with previous publications. 8 -10 Although the association of vascular risk factors with IS risk is well established in older individuals, few data are available in young adults.…”

“…Two studies described an increased prevalence of hypertension in CEAD patients 15,16 (restricted to CEAD patients with cerebral ischemia in 1 study, 16 which partly overlaps with our Italian subsample), whereas 2 other studies reported no association. 17,19 In the present sample, we found a significantly higher frequency of hypertension in CEAD patients compared with referents, regardless of the presence or absence of cerebral ischemia. Although a lower prevalence of hypercholesterolemia has been described in CEAD patients compared with non-CEAD IS patients, 10 to the best of our knowledge, no such association has been reported in comparison with referents.…”

“…Indeed, although the relationship of CEAD with vascular risk factors has been investigated in the past, studies were performed in small cohorts, 8 -19 and only 2 studies were specifically designed to assess this relationship. 16,19 A few studies reported a lower prevalence of vascular risk factors in CEAD patients compared with young patients with an IS of a cause other than CEAD (non-CEAD IS), 8 -10 whereas others did not observe any significant association. [11][12][13][14] Studies including referents are scarce [15][16][17]19 and yielded contradictory results: 1 study found no association 17 ; another observed a lower body mass index (BMI) 19 ; and 2 other studies found an increased prevalence of hypertension in CEAD patients compared with referents.…”

Epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of intracranial artery dissection

“…[1][2][3] Although dissection of the extracranial cervical arteries has been extensively studied and described, [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] less information is available about pure intracranial artery dissection (ie, not including the cervical portion of the artery). 4 Early reports were exclusively based on autopsy series, hence biased towards the most severe cases of intracranial artery dissection.…”

Stenosis and Dissection in the Same Vertebral Artery

“…Atherosclerosis appears to be rare in patients affected by cervical artery dissection [5]. Several studies investigated the potential link of cervical artery dissection with common risk factors for atherosclerosis [5][6][7]. In the largest study Debette et al [6] reported that hypertension was associated with an increased risk of cervical artery dissection, whereas an inverse association with hypercholesterolemia, obesity and overweight was observed.…”