Son DH, et al. - By performing this cross-sectional analysis, researchers investigated whether serum carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 levels would be related to cerebrovascular microangiopathy measured by leukoaraiosis in middle-aged and older adults. Participants were a total of 1,833 Korean adults aged ≥ 45 years who took part in a health examination program between 2010 and 2011. They used chemiluminescence immunoassay to determine serum CA 19-9 levels and defined quartiles: Q1: ≤ 4.5, Q2: 4.6–7.5, Q2: 7.6–12.2, and Q4: ≥ 12.3 ng/mL. The overall prevalence of leukoaraiosis was estimated to be 4.6% and it progressed with serum CA 19-9 quartiles. For leukoaraiosis, the OR (95% CI) of the highest CA 19–9 quartile vs the lowest quartile was estimated to be 2.20 (1.10–4.42) following adjustment for age, gender, BMI, regular exercise, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, smoking status, and alcohol consumption. Findings revealed a positive as well as an independent link of serum CA 19-9 levels with leukoaraiosis. The likely utility of serum CA 19-9 level was suggested as an additional measure for evaluating cerebrovascular microangiopathy in clinical settings.