Procalcitonin and Midregional Proatrial Natriuretic Peptide as Biomarkers of Subclinical Cerebrovascular Damage: The Northern Manhattan Study.

Background And Purpose: Chronic infections and cardiac dysfunction are risk factors for stroke. We hypothesized that blood biomarkers of infection (procalcitonin) and cardiac dysfunction (midregional proatrial natriuretic peptide [MR-proANP]), previously associated with small vessel stroke and cardioembolic stroke are also associated with subclinical cerebrovascular damage, including silent brain infarcts and white matter hyperintensity volume.

Methods: The NOMAS (Northern Manhattan Study) was designed to assess risk factors for incident vascular disease in a multiethnic cohort.