Objective      To determine the relationship between serum level of Cystatin C (CysC) and cerebral white matter lesions (WMLs).       Methods      The 50-year-old and older patients admitted in our department from July 2014 to March 2015 were prospectively recruited in this study. Colloidal gold immunoassay was used to determine their serum CysC level. MRI scanning was employed to identify WMLs

and Fazekas scale was used to grade the patients into periventricular WMLs (P-WMLs) and deep WMLs (D-WMLs) groups. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the association of CysC with WMLs.       Results      There were 190 males and 283 males

at a mean age of 65.7±9.1 in the cohort. In P-WMLs group

the CysC level was significantly higher in the severe and moderate groups than the mild group (0.82±0.18 and 0.78±0.15 vs 0.73±0.14 mg/L

P0.05). And in D-WMLs group

the level was also obviously higher in severe and moderate groups than the mild group (0.82±0.18 and 0.79±0.16 vs 0.74±0.14

P0.05). The results indicated that the severer MMLs was

the higher the CysC level was. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that CysC level (P-WMLs: OR=8.21

95%CI:2.18~30.88; D-WMLs: OR=7.01

95%CI: 1.69~29.11)

age (P-WMLs: OR=5.18

95%CI: 2.81~9.55; D-WMLs: OR=4.32

95%CI: 2.05~9.08) and hypertension (P-WMLs: OR=3.46

95%CI: 2.30~5.21; D-WMLs: OR=3.52

95%CI: 2.21~5.62) were risk factors for the increased severity of WMLs.       Conclusion      CysC level is positively correlated with the severity of WMLs. Elevated CysC level

older age and hypertension are independent risk factors for increased severity of WMLs.