Prevalence and risk factors for brain white matter changes in young and middle-aged participants with Brain Dock (brain screening): a registry database study and literature review

This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for brain white matter changes in normal young and middle-aged participants who underwent Brain Dock (brain screening). We analyzed 5,000 consecutive healthy participants from the Brain Dock registry between August to December 2018. Age, sex, body mass index (BMI), medical history, deep subcortical white matter high intensity (DSWMH), periventricular high intensity (PVH), and enlargement of perivascular space (EPVS) were investigated in relation to age. The prevalence of DSWMH, PVH, and EPVS were 35.3%, 14.0%, and 17.8%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analyses for brain white matter changes were conducted. The significant risk factors in participants aged < 50 years were: age (OR:1.09, 95% CI:1.07-1.12), the female sex (1.29, 1.03-1.60), BMI obesity (1.86, 1.12-3.08), and hypertension (1.67, 1.18-2.35) for DSWMH; age (1.08, 1.04-1.13) and the female sex (1.56, 1.03-2.36) for PVH; and age (1.07, 1.05–1.10) and the female sex (0.77, 0.60-1.00) for EPVS. In conclusion, age was consistently identified as a significant risk factor in young and middle-aged participants. Some risk factors for brain white matter changes were identified even in young and middle-aged participants in this study. Further longitudinal studies should be done in the future.