Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Low-grade inflammation is a risk factor for clinical stroke events in addition to silent cerebral infarcts in Japanese older hypertensives: the Jichi Medical School ABPM Study, wave 1.
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), a marker of inflammation, is associated with atherosclerosis, hypertensive target organ damage, and cardiovascular events. In the general Japanese population, the level of hsCRP is reported to be lower than that in Western countries, and the relationships among hsCRP, silent cerebral infarcts (SCIs), and clinical stroke events in older Japanese hypertensives remain unclear. ⋯ High-sensitivity C-reactive protein is a risk factor for clinical stroke events in addition to silent cerebral infarcts in Japanese older hypertensives, indicating that the risk for clinical stroke events increases with preexisting hypertensive target organ damage in the brain and additionally with ongoing low-grade inflammation.