Cardiovascular risk factors and brain white matter lesions in HTLV-1-associated  myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP)

AbstractThe origin of brain white matter lesion found in HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP) remains undefined. We investigated the association between white matter lesions in HAM/TSP with cardiovascular risk factors. The group of 40 patients with HAM/TSP included 60% females and mean age of 58.6  ± 8 years old. The probability of 10-year cardiovascular disease was low in 53%, moderate in 38%, and high in 10% of the patients. There was no difference between the cardiovascular risk factors in HAM/TSP patients with and without brain lesions (p >  0.05). Our data suggest that the brain white matter abnormalities are not associated to increased cardiovascular risk in HAM/TSP.
Source: Journal of NeuroVirology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research