Correlation between body composition and white matter hyperintensity in patients with acute ischemic stroke

White matter hyperintensity (WMH) burden is associated with a higher risk of ischemic stroke. The relationship between WMH and obesity is somewhat controversial which might be interfered by different body composition such as skeletal muscle, fat and bone density. However, few researchers have evaluated the relationship between WMH burden and disaggregated body constituents in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients systematically. A total of 352 AIS patients were enrolled in this study. The subcutaneous adipose tissue, erector spinae muscle area and bone density were evaluated on the computed tomography scanning. The burden of WMH was evaluated using the Fazekas scale based on the fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequence. The severity of overall WMH was defined as none-mild WMH (total Fazekas score 0–2) or moderate-severe WMH (total Fazekas score 3–6). Based on the severity of periventricular WMH (P-WMH) and deep WMH, patients were categorized into either a none-mild (Fazekas score 0–1) group or a moderate-severe (Fazekas score 2–3) group. We found that patients with moderate-severe WMH showed lower bone density and smaller erector spinae muscle area and subcutaneous adipose tissue than none-mild. The logistic regression analysis showed that the bone density was independently associated with moderate-severe overall WMH (odds radio = 0.98, 95% confidence interval, 0.972–0.992, P < .001) and similar results were found in the analyses according to P-WMH (odds radio = 0.98, 95% confidence interval, 0.972–0.992, P < .001). These findings suggest that among the AIS body composition, the bone density is independently associated with the severity of overall WMH and P-WMH.