Background: It has been confirmed that incidental silent cerebral infarctions (SCIs) found in healthy people may be risk factors for cerebrovascular diseases such as strokes and vascular dementia. The prospective study aimed to determine the utility of baseline serum white blood cell (WBC) counts to predict the emergence of new SCI after intracranial hemorrhage (ICH).
Methods: This is a prospective study. From January 2016 to December 2017, we recruited 171 patients admitted to the neurology department of the Affiliated Shuyang Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University with a first episode of ICH. Serum WBC count was measured on admission. SCI was detected by cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 14 days after the onset of the ICH. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to calculate the most appropriate cut-off values of the WBC count for differentiating patients with and without SCI at the end of the study period.
Results: New SCIs were detected in 28.07% of patients by cranial MRI. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that cerebral microbleeds (CMBs), raised WBC counts, and leukoaraiosis were independent risk factors for SCI. The most appropriate cut-off WBC count differentiating the two groups was 7.65×10⁹/L (sensitivity: 77.08%, specificity: 63.41%).
Conclusion: Elevated levels of serum WBC counts in patients with ICH are associated with SCI. There is potential value in using serum WBC counts to predict new SCI after an acute hemorrhagic stroke.