Table 3. Cerebrovascular Disease Characteristics.
| Characteristic | Patients, No. (%) | P Valueb | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Sample (N = 180) | CTE Only (n = 101) | CTE and Comorbidities (n = 79)a | ||
| White matter rarefaction | ||||
| None | 22 (12.2) | 16 (15.8) | 6 (7.6) | .91 |
| Mild | 74 (41.1) | 39 (38.6) | 35 (44.3) | |
| Moderate | 58 (32.2) | 32 (32.7) | 25 (31.6) | |
| Severe | 26 (14.4) | 13 (12.9) | 13 (16.5) | |
| Atherosclerosis | ||||
| None | 102 (60.0) | 58 (59.2) | 44 (58.7) | .30 |
| Mild | 34 (20.0) | 19 (20.0) | 15 (20.0) | |
| Moderate | 25 (14.7) | 11 (11.6) | 14 (18.7) | |
| Severe | 9 (5.3) | 7 (7.4) | 2 (2.7) | |
| Arteriolosclerosis | ||||
| None | 54 (30.0) | 29 (28.7) | 25 (31.6) | .04 |
| Mild | 41 (22.8) | 20 (19.8) | 21 (26.6) | |
| Moderate | 67 (37.2) | 43 (42.6) | 24 (30.4) | |
| Severe | 18 (10.0) | 9 (8.9) | 9 (11.4) | |
| Remote microinfarcts | 49 (27.2) | 29 (28.7) | 20 (25.3) | .09c |
| Cerebral cortex, No. | ||||
| 1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | |
| 2 | 10 | 5 | 5 | |
| ≥3 | 10 | 9 | 1 | |
| Subcortical and periventricular white matter, No. | ||||
| 1 | 7 | 4 | 3 | |
| 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | |
| ≥3 | 8 | 3 | 5 | |
| Subcortical gray matter, No. | ||||
| 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | |
| ≥3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
| Brainstem and cerebellum, No. | ||||
| 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | |
| ≥3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | |
| Remote infarcts | 30 (16.9) | 18 (18.0) | 12 (15.6) | .39c |
| Cerebral cortex, No. | ||||
| 1 | 11 | 9 | 2 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | |
| ≥3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Deep cerebral gray matter and internal capsule, No. | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| ≥3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Subcortical and periventricular white matter, No. | ||||
| 1 | 7 | 3 | 4 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| ≥3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Brainstem and cerebellum, No. | ||||
| 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| ≥3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Remote microbleeds | 5 (2.8) | 2 (2.0) | 3 (3.8) | .62c |
| Cerebral cortex, No. | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| ≥3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Subcortical and periventricular white matter, No. | ||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| ≥3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| Subcortical gray matter, No. | ||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| ≥3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Brainstem and cerebellum, No. | ||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| ≥3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
Abbreviation: CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Participants with CTE and other comorbid neurodegenerative disease diagnoses, whereas CTE only includes those with CTE and who did not have comorbid neurodegenerative disease diagnoses.
Ordinal regression controlling for age compared differences between participants with CTE only and those with CTE and comorbid diagnoses for white matter rarefaction, atherosclerosis, and arteriolosclerosis. Logistic regression controlling for age was used to examine differences between the participant groups on all remaining variables.
Compared absence vs presence. Of the 180 participants, sample sizes were reduced because of missing data to 170 participants for atherosclerosis and 177 participants for remote infarcts. There are variable sample sizes across the regional assessments because of missing data.