Arteriolosclerosis is a form of cardiovascular disease involving hardening and loss of elasticity of arterioles or small arteries and is most often associated with hypertension and diabetes mellitus.

Lesions reflect leakage of plasma components across vascular endothelium and excessive extracellular matrix production by smooth muscle cells, usually secondary to hypertension.

[11] Hyaline arteriolosclerosis is a major morphologic characteristic of benign nephrosclerosis, in which the arteriolar narrowing causes diffuse impairment of renal blood supply, with loss of nephrons.

[12] The brain is another organ where hyaline arteriolosclerosis occurs prematurely in patients with high blood pressure.

This can cause either kind of stroke: an ischemic infarct or a brain hemorrhage, as the vessels can be blocked or broken.