DIFFERENT VASCULAR RISK FACTOR PROFILES AMONG CORTICAL INFARCTS, SMALL DEEP INFARCTS, AND PRIMARY INTRACEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE POINT TO DIFFERENT TYPES OF UNDERLYING VASCULOPATHY - A STUDY FROM THE LAQUILA STROKE REGISTRY

The type of small-vessel disease in small deep (lacunar) infarcts (SDI s) remains contentious as opposed to that in primary intracerebral hae morrhage (PICH), which is lipohyalinosis in most cases. Therefore, we compared risk Lipohyalinosis factor profiles as indicators of underlyi ng vessel pathology, between patients Hypertension with SDI and patien ts with PICH, and those with a non-cardio-embolic infarct involving th e cortex (CORTI). Multivariate regression analysis showed that diabete s mellitus [odds ratio (OR) 0.56; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.34-0. 90] and hypercholesterolaemia (OR 0.63; 95% CI 0.40-0.99) were more st rongly associated with CORTI than with SDI. Carotid stenosis was assoc iated with SDI in comparison with PICH (OR 7.51 95% CI 1.02-54.94). Co mpared with PICH, CORTI was more strongly associated with diabetes mel litus (OR 3.27; 95% CI 1.38-7.76), carotid stenosis (OR 24.42; 95% CI 4.99-119.45), and hypercholesterolaemia (OR 3.12; 95% CI 1.47-6.65), w hereas hypertension was associated with PICH (OR 0.37; 95% CI 0.18-0.7 9). These data support the hypothesis that small-vessel atheromatosis rather than small-vessel lipohyalinosis underlies lacunar infarcts in most cases.