Factors determining the volume of the spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Hypertension and alcohol consumption are well known independent risk factors of spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However, it is uncertain whether controlling of them reduces the volume of ICH. Furthermore, it remains also unkown whether other factors such as age, sex, education level, smoking, diabetes mellitus, and previous history of stroke are related to the volume of ICH. This study was designed to evaluate the relations of those things with the volume of ICH. METHODS: We prospectively assessed above items in 103 consecutive patients with ICH aged 33 to 87 years (mean age 64 years, 50 men and 53 women ). We divided the volume of ICH with the use of CT scan into small (=l0cc, n=32) groups. RESULTS: The patients with previous history of stroke significantly have a smaller volume of ICH compared to those without (p=0.04). However, the other factors (age, sex, education level, antihypertensive medication, alcohol consumption, smoking, and diabetes mellitus) were not significantly correlated with the volume of ICH to multivariate analysis. The patients with previous history of stroke tended to receive more regular antihypertensive medication than these without (p-0.06). CONCLUSION: The patients with previous history of stroke have a smaller volume of ICH possibly due to adequate antihypertensive treatment. However, the other factors which we evaluated were not significantly correlated with the volume of ICH.