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Background: Risk factors for cerebrovascular disease in adulthood are well known. However, research on individuals' risk factors throughout their life span has been limited. This prospective cohort study aims to determine the effect of body mass index (BMI) and its changes in adolescence and young adulthood on early onset cerebrovascular disease., Methods: This study includes 10 491 people (5185 women) from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. Height, weight, and BMI were measured at ages 14 and 31 years. Sex- and age-specific BMI ranges were used to define overweight and obesity. Data on ischemic and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular diseases between ages 14 and 54 years were extracted from national hospital and death registers. Cox proportion hazard models (95% CI) were used to estimate associations between BMI or its changes and cerebrovascular disease, while adjusting for sex, smoking, educational level, BMI at the other time point, and age at menarche for women. Additionally, sex-BMI interactions were calculated., Results: A total of 452 individuals (4.7%) experienced cerebrovascular disease during the follow-up. The risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease was increased for overweight women at ages 14 years (hazard ratio [HR], 2.49 [95% CI, 1.44-4.31]) and 31 years (HR, 2.13 [95% CI, 1.14-3.97]), as well as for obese women at ages 14 years (HR, 1.87 [95% CI, 0.76-4.58) and 31 years (HR, 2.67 [95% CI, 1.26-5.65]), with normal weight as the reference. These results were independent of earlier or later BMI. Similar associations were not found among men. The risk of hemorrhagic cerebrovascular disease was increased at age 31 years both among obese women (HR, 3.49 [95% CI, 1.13-10.7) and obese men (HR, 5.75 [95% CI, 1.43-23.1). The risk of any cerebrovascular disease related to overweight at age 14 years was 2.09× higher among girls than boys (95% CI, 1.06-4.15). The risk of ischemic cerebrovascular disease related to obesity at age 31 years was 6.96× higher among women than men (95% CI, 1.36-35.7)., Conclusions: Among women, being overweight in adolescence or young adulthood increases the risk of cerebrovascular disease, especially ischemic, independent of their earlier or later BMI., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Rissanen reports employment by Duodecim Publishing Company Ltd. Dr Kajantie reports grants from Academy of Finland. The other authors report no conflicts.

Background: Effectiveness of carotid procedures (surgery and stenting) in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis (ACAS) depends on the absolute risk reduction that patients might receive from these procedures. We aimed to quantify the risk of ipsilateral ischemic stroke and examined temporal trends and determinants of these risks in patients with ACAS treated conservatively., Methods: We conducted a systematic review from inception to March 9, 2023, of peer-reviewed trials and cohort studies describing ipsilateral ischemic stroke risk in medically treated patients with ACAS of ≥50%. Risk of bias was assessed with an adapted version of the Quality in Prognosis Studies tool. We calculated the annual incidence rates of ipsilateral ischemic stroke. We explored temporal trends and associations of sex and degree of stenosis with ipsilateral ischemic stroke using Poisson metaregression analysis and incidence rate ratios, respectively., Results: After screening 5915 reports, 73 studies describing ipsilateral ischemic stroke rates of 28 625 patients with midyear of recruitment ranging from 1976 to 2014 were included. The incidence of ipsilateral ischemic stroke was 0.98 (95% CI, 0.93-1.04) per 100 patient-years (median duration of follow-up, 3.3 years). The incidence decreased 24% with every 5 years more recent midyear of recruitment (rate ratio, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.73-0.78]). Incidence rates of ipsilateral ischemic stroke were lower in female patients (rate ratio, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.63-0.87]) and in patients with moderate versus severe stenosis when assessed in cohort studies, with incidence rate ratios of 0.41 ([95% CI, 0.35-0.49] cutoff, 70%) and 0.42 ([95% CI, 0.30-0.59] cutoff, 80%)., Conclusions: Reported risks of ipsilateral ischemic stroke in patients with ACAS have declined 24% every 5 years from mid-1970s onward, further challenging the routine use of carotid procedures. Risks were lower in female patients and more than twice as high with severe compared with moderate ACAS. Inclusion of these findings in individualized risk assessment can help to determine the benefit of carotid procedures in selected individual patients with ACAS., Registration: URL: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/; Unique identifier: CRD42021222940., Competing Interests: Disclosures None.

Background: Low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of adulthood cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Not much is known about effects of early childhood growth. We studied whether the risk of adult CVD is associated with growth or nutritional factors during early childhood., Methods: Within the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, 11 991 persons were followed from birth to 52 years of age. CVD diagnoses were extracted from national hospital and death registers with diagnostic coding based on the World Health Organization recommendations. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate associations of childhood growth variables, growth trajectories (by Latent Class Growth Modeling), and nutritional factors with adult CVD, for example, ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. The analyses were adjusted for childhood socioeconomic status and birth weight., Results: A total of 453 (3.8%) CVDs were recorded during follow-up. Among females, groups with low early childhood weight and height had an increased risk for adulthood ischemic CVDs, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.97 (95% CI, 1.21-3.20) and 2.05 (CI, 1.11-3.81), respectively. In addition, females with body mass index over 1 SD at body mass index rebound had an increased risk for ischemic CVDs (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.90 [CI, 1.19-3.04]) compared with females with body mass index -1 to +1 SD. These associations were not found among males., Conclusions: The findings suggest that timing of weight gain during childhood is of significance for development of CVD risk among females.

Background and Objective: To investigate the association of silent vascular lesions, imaging negative ischemia, and symptomatic cerebrovascular disease with long-term progression of brain atrophy and cerebrovascular lesions in patients with arterial disease., Methods: Within the Second Manifestations of Arterial Disease-Magnetic Resonance (SMART-MR) study, stroke status of participants at baseline was classified as no cerebrovascular disease (reference group, n = 829), symptomatic cerebrovascular disease (n = 206), silent vascular lesion (n = 157), and imaging-negative ischemia (n = 90) according to clinical and MRI findings. With the use of linear mixed models, changes in brain and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volumes at baseline and during 12 years of follow-up were studied in stroke classifications. Relative risks were estimated for new infarcts during follow-up associated with stroke classifications. Analyses were adjusted for age, sex, cardiovascular risk factors, and medications., Results: Symptomatic cerebrovascular disease associated with 0.35 SD (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.24-0.47) smaller brain volume and 0.61 SD (95% CI 0.48-0.74) larger WMH volume at baseline and increased risk for new infarcts during follow-up (risk ratio [RR] 2.89, 95% CI 2.00-4.16). Silent vascular lesions were associated with 0.15 SD (95% CI 0.01-0.88) smaller brain volume, 0.02 SD (95% CI 0.01-0.03) steeper brain atrophy slope, and 0.48 SD (95% CI 0.32-0.64) larger WMH volume at baseline, in addition to increased risk for lacunes (RR 2.08, 95% CI 1.48-2.94). Individuals with imaging-negative ischemia had increased risk for cortical infarcts (RR 2.88, 95% CI 2.17-3.82)., Discussion: Patients with symptomatic cerebrovascular disease, silent vascular lesions, or imaging-negative ischemia have a different course of brain volume loss and cerebrovascular lesion development. These findings may have implications for future stroke risk and dementia and need further investigation., (© 2021 American Academy of Neurology.)

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