Who is at greatest risk for aneurymal rupture?
Aneurysmal rupture leads to subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and occurs most often in patients between 40 and 60 years of age with approximately equal sex distribution. Cigarette smoking and excess alcohol use has been shown to increase the risk of rupture. Likewise, the existence of intracerebral aneurysms is associated with other diseases such as polycystic kidney disease, coarctation of the aorta, and fibromuscular hyperplasia. Other factors such as high blood pressure seem to be less important since aneurysms often occur in persons with normal blood pressure.
