SynthesisBMC medicine2014
The epidemiology of silent brain infarction: a systematic review of population-based cohorts.
Synthesis in BMC medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 138 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Advanced Cardiac Imaging To Predict Embolic Stroke On Brain MRI: A Pilot Study
Interventions for Silent Brain Infarction and Perioperative Neurocognitive Disorders in Cardiovascular Surgery (the INSPIRE Study)
Who cites it
138 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 249 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association Between Pulse Pressure and Structural Brain Changes in Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Studies.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Pooled it
- Silent Brain Infarction, Delirium, and Cognition in Three Invasive Cardiovascular Procedures: a Systematic Review.Neuropsychology review · 2023Pooled it
- Incidence and Risk Factors for Silent Brain Infarction After On-Pump Cardiac Surgery: A Meta-analysis and Meta-regression of 29 Prospective Cohort Studies.Neurocritical care · 2021Pooled it
- Silent cerebral infarcts in patients with sickle cell disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Presenting symptoms and diagnostic accuracy of prehospital stroke scales for patients with suspected mild minor stroke.European stroke journal · 2026Trial
- Apixaban Versus Aspirin to Reduce Cognitive Decline After Cryptogenic Stroke and Atrial Cardiopathy: ARCADIA-Cognition Study.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Trial
- Intensive Blood Pressure Treatment and Subclinical Brain Infarcts: A Secondary Analysis of SPRINT (Systolic Pressure Intervention Trial).Annals of neurology · 2024Trial
- Insulin resistance and muscle weakness are synergistic risk factors for silent lacunar infarcts: the Bunkyo Health Study.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Randomized phase I clinical trial of anti-α-synuclein antibody BIIB054.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2019Trial
- Trial
- Brain pathology in relation to somatic diseases: Exploring the body-brain crosstalk.Journal of internal medicine · 2026Review
- Signatures of Covert Neuron Loss in the Local Field Potential of Motor Cortex.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- Roles of Microglia in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Review
- Clinically reported covert cerebrovascular disease and risk of neurological disease: a whole-population cohort of 367 988 people using natural language processing.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2026Article
- Association of non-invasive atrial cardiomyopathy markers with cerebral stroke lesions: a population-based analysis from the Hamburg City Health Study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2026Article
- Impact of sedentary behavior and physical activity on stroke risk in a cohort of patients with silent brain infarction.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Risk factors for silent cerebral infarction in immune-mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic survivors.British journal of haematology · 2026Article
- Cardiovascular risk factor control in patients with covert brain infarcts in the prospective SILENT cohort study.European stroke journal · 2026Observational
- Magnetic resonance white matter changes in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. The subset of the PURE-MIND (Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological) cohort study.Archives of medical science : AMS · 2026Article
78 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCerebral infarction is a commonly observed radiological finding in the absence of corresponding, clinical symptomatology, the so-called silent brain infarction (SBI). SBIs are a relatively new consideration as improved imaging has facilitated recognition of their occurrence. However, the true incidence, prevalence and risk factors associated with SBI remain controversial.
methodsSystematic searches of the Medline and EMBASE databases from 1946 to December 2013 were performed to identify original studies of population-based adult cohorts derived from community surveys and routine health screening that reported the incidence and prevalence of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-determined SBI.
resultsThe prevalence of SBI ranges from 5% to 62% with most studies reported in the 10% to 20% range. Longitudinal studies suggest an annual incidence of between 2% and 4%. A strong association was seen to exist between epidemiological estimates of SBI and age of the population assessed. Hypertension, carotid stenosis, chronic kidney disease and metabolic syndrome all showed a strong association with SBI. Heart failure, coronary artery disease, hyperhomocysteinemia and obstructive sleep apnea are also likely of significance. However, any association between SBI and gender, ethnicity, tobacco or alcohol consumption, obesity, dyslipidemia, atrial fibrillation and diabetes mellitus remains unclear.
conclusionsSBI is a remarkably common phenomenon and endemic among older people. This systematic review supports the association of a number of traditional vascular risk factors, but also highlights disparities between clinically apparent and silent strokes, potentially suggesting important differences in pathophysiology and warranting further investigation.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.