People who have high blood pressure, smoke cigarettes or consume large amounts of coffee have a greater likelihood of suffering a type of stroke known as an aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).
Using a population-based survey of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in 27,161 subjects, researchers at Tromsø University Hospital in Norway identified 26 cases of aneurysmal SAH in which risk factors were registered before the bleeding. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, cigarette smoking habits, serum concentrations of lipoproteins, body mass index, and coffee consumption were analyzed.
The researchers found that the proportion of study participants who were smokers was significantly higher in patients with SAH (73.1 percent) than in the control group (41.3 percent). Drinking more than five cups of coffee per day was more common among patients (85 percent) than in the control group (59 percent). Mean (SD) systolic blood pressure was higher (154) than in the control group (136).
Current smokers were 4.5 times more likely to suffer a subarachnoid hemorrhage than those who never smoked, while drinkers of more than five cups of coffee a day were 3.86 times more likely to have such a stroke than those who drank less. Each increase of systolic blood pressure of 20 points brought forth a 2.46 times greater risk of a subarachnoid hemorrhage.
"Cigarette smoking, high coffee consumption and hypertension are significant independent risk factors for aneurysmal SAH," the researchers concluded. "A high coffee consumption may also predispose patients to aneurysmal SAH."
