Association between small vessel disease and persons with overweight and obesity: A study using peak width of...

Obesity and overweight are established contributors to cerebrovascular disease, including small vessel disease (SVD). Peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD), a diffusion tensor imaging-based marker, sensitively detects white matter microstructural changes linked to SVD. However, the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and PSMD remains unclear.

We analyzed data from 62 neurologically and medically healthy adults who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging with diffusion tensor imaging. Participants were recruited as normal controls and categorized by World Health Organization Asia-Pacific BMI criteria. PSMD values were compared across BMI groups. Spearman correlation and age-adjusted residual analyses assessed associations between BMI and PSMD.

PSMD showed a significant positive correlation with BMI (ρ = 0.42, p = 0.0007), which remained after adjusting for age (ρ = 0.38, p = 0.0021). Overweight individuals (BMI 23.0-24.9 kg/m²) exhibited significantly higher PSMD values than normal-weight participants (BMI 18.5-22.9 kg/m²), both before and after adjustment. When overweight and obese participants (BMI ≥ 23.0 kg/m²) were combined, this group also demonstrated elevated PSMD. The association with obesity (BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m²) was present but attenuated after age adjustment.

This study is the first to demonstrate a significant association between higher BMI and PSMD, even at overweight levels in Asian populations. These findings suggest that excess body weight is linked to early microstructural white matter changes consistent with SVD, and PSMD may serve as a useful imaging biomarker for obesity-related cerebral microvascular damage.