AUTHOR=Wei Cun-Sheng , Yan Cai-Yun , Yu Xiao-Rong , Wang Lin , Zhang Rui , Jiang Jun-Ying , Dai Qi , Li Jun-Rong , Chen Xue Mei 

TITLE=Association Between White Matter Hyperintensities and Chronic Kidney Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2022.770184

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2022.770184

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=Objectives Previous studies of the associations of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) were still conflicting, therefore, the aims of our study were to conduct a systematic review of all of the available researches on this topic and to conduct a meta-analysis of Association between WMH and CKD among observational studies.
Setting & Design Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Outcome measures Severity of WMH.
Methods & Participants All of the relevant studies in public databases were examined until November 15, 2020. All the included studies were assessed by two independent reviewers using the Cross-Sectional/Prevalence Study Quality scale (CSSQ), and then literature review and meta-analyses were performed. 
Results We pooled OR for the presence of WMH, PVH and DWMH of CKD versus non-CKD by subgroup analysis, the results showed that WMH OR 2.07, 95% CI [1.58, 2.70], PVH OR 2.41, 95% CI [1.90, 3.05], DWMH OR 2.11, 95% CI [1.60, 2.80], respectively. The main outcome showed that patients with CKD are more likely to have WMH in the brain compared to the normal controls. Another meta-analysis showed that there was a statistically significant decline of renal function in patients with moderate to severe WMH compared with those with none to mild WMH.
Conclusions In conclusion, the findings indicate that CKD patients are more likely to experience WMH compared with demographically-matched controls. On the other hand, patients with moderate to severe WMH in brain have poor renal function more frequently than those with none to mild WMH.