Severe leukoaraiosis predicts morbidity and mortality independently of preexisting neurologic deficits. The combination of leukoaraiosis and gait disturbance carries a poor prognosis.

In our Veteran population, leukoaraiosis is an independent predictor of gait disturbance after accounting for stroke and cerebral atrophy. Although leukoaraiosis is a form of cerebrovascular disease, it appears to be most closely associated to gait disturbance in the absence of symptomatic stroke or leg deficit.

No abstract