Prevalence of pre-eclampsia in 265 patients with an intracranial aneurysm, 393 female relatives versus a control cohort: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There is emerging evidence on the connection between pre-eclampsia and saccular intracranial aneurysms (sIAs). Our aim was to study the prevalence of pre-eclampsia in sIA patients, their female relatives, and matched controls, and to examine familial sIA disease and familial pre-eclampsia in sIA patients' families. METHODS: We included all female sIA patients in the Kuopio Intracranial Aneurysm Patient and Family Database from 1995 to 2018. First, we identified the sIA patients, their female relatives, and matched population controls with the first birth in 1987 or later and studied the prevalence of pre-eclampsia. Second, all female sIA patients and all female relatives were analyzed for familial sIA disease and familial pre-eclampsia. Using the Finnish nationwide health registries, we obtained data on drug purchases, hospital diagnoses, and causes of death. RESULTS: In total, 265 sIA patients, 57 daughters, 167 sisters, 169 nieces, and 546 matched controls had the first birth in 1987 or later. Among them, 29 (11%) sIA patients, 5 (9%) daughters, 10 (6%) sisters, 10 (6%) nieces, and 32 (6%) controls had pre-eclampsia. Of all the 1895 female sIA patients and 12,141 female relatives, 68 sIA patients and 375 relatives had pre-eclampsia, including 32 families with familial pre-eclampsia. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-eclampsia was significantly more common in the sIA patients than in their matched controls. Familial sIA disease and familial pre-eclampsia co-occurred in seven families. Further studies of the mechanisms by which pre-eclampsia could affect the walls of brain arteries and increase the rupture risk in sIA disease are indicated.

Pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders in patients with intracranial aneurysms: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to define the prevalence of pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension (HT), chronic HT, and gestational diabetes during pregnancy in a defined population of patients with saccular intracranial aneurysms (sIAs). METHODS: We included all patients with sIA, first admitted to the Neurosurgery Department of Kuopio University Hospital from its defined catchment population between 1990 and 2015, who had given birth for the first time in 1990 or later. The patients' medical records were reviewed, and clinical data were linked with prescription drug usage, hospital diagnoses and causes of death, obtained from nationwide registries. The prevalences of pre-eclampsia, other hypertensive disorders and gestational diabetes in patients were compared with a matched control population (n = 324). In addition, the characteristics of sIA disease in patients with pre-eclampsia were compared to those of sIA patients without pre-eclampsia. RESULTS: A total of 169 patients with sIA fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these, 22 (13%) had pre-eclampsia and 32 (19%) had other hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. In 324 matched controls who had given birth, the prevalence of pre-eclampsia was 5% (n = 15) and other hypertensive disorders were diagnosed in 10% (n = 34). There was no significant difference in prevalence of gestational diabetes (12% vs. 11%). Patients with sIA with pre-eclampsia more frequently had irregularly shaped aneurysms (p = 0·003). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-eclampsia was significantly more frequent in patients with sIA than in their population controls. Irregularly shaped aneurysms were more frequent in sIA patients with pre-eclampsia. Further studies are required to determine whether history of pre-eclampsia may indicate an elevated risk for sIA formation or rupture.

Lack of impact of polycystic kidney disease on the outcome of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a matched case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: The authors set out to study whether autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), an established risk factor for intracranial aneurysms (IAs), affects the acute course and long-term outcome of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). METHODS: The outcomes of 32 ADPKD patients with aSAH between 1980 and 2015 (median age 43 years; 50% women) were compared with 160 matched (age, sex, and year of aSAH) non-ADPKD aSAH patients in the prospectively collected Kuopio Intracranial Aneurysm Patient and Family Database. RESULTS: At 12 months, 75% of the aSAH patients with ADPKD versus 71% of the matched-control aSAH patients without ADPKD had good outcomes (Glasgow Outcome Scale score 4 or 5). There was no significant difference in condition at admission. Hypertension had been diagnosed before aSAH in 69% of the ADPKD patients versus 27% of controls (p < 0.001). Multiple IAs were present in 44% of patients in the ADPKD group versus 25% in the control group (p = 0.03). The most common sites of ruptured IAs were the anterior communicating artery (47% vs 29%, p = 0.05) and the middle cerebral artery bifurcation (28% vs 31%), and the median size was 6.0 mm versus 8.0 mm (p = 0.02). During the median follow-up of 11 years, a second aSAH occurred in 3 of 29 (10%) ADPKD patients and in 4 of 131 (3%) controls (p = 0.11). A fatal second aSAH due to a confirmed de novo aneurysm occurred in 2 (6%) of the ADPKD patients but in none of the controls (p = 0.027). CONCLUSIONS: The outcomes of ADPKD patients with aSAH did not differ significantly from those of matched non-ADPKD aSAH patients. ADPKD patients had an increased risk of second aSAH from a de novo aneurysm, warranting long-term angiographic follow-up.

Association of Intracranial Aneurysms With Aortic Aneurysms in 125 Patients With Fusiform and 4253 Patients With Saccular Intracranial Aneurysms and Their Family Members and Population Controls.

Background Varying degrees of co-occurrence of intracranial aneurysms (IA) and aortic aneurysms (AA) have been reported. We sought to compare the risk for AA in fusiform intracranial aneurysms (fIA) and saccular intracranial aneurysms (sIA) disease and evaluate possible genetic connection between the fIA disease and AAs. Additionally, the characteristics and aneurysms of the fIA and sIA patients were compared. Methods and Results The Kuopio Intracranial Aneurysm Database includes all 4253 sIA and 125 fIA patients from its Eastern Finnish catchment population, and 13 009 matched population controls and 18 455 first-degree relatives to the IA patients were identified, and the Finnish national registers were used to identify the individuals with AA. A total of 33 fIA patients were studied using an exomic gene panel of 37 genes associated with AAs. Seventeen (14.4%) fIA patients and 48 (1.2%) sIA patients had a diagnosis of AA. Both fIA and sIA patients had AAs significantly more often than their controls (1.2% and 0.5%) or relatives (0.9% and 0.3%). In a competing risks Cox regression model, the presence of fIA was the strongest risk factor for AA (subdistribution hazard ratio 7.6, 95% CI 3.9-14.9, P<0.0005). One likely pathogenic variant in COL5A2 and 3 variants of unknown significance were identified in MYH11, COL11A1, and FBN1 in 4 fIA patients. Conclusions The prevalence of AAs is increased slightly in sIA patients and significantly in fIA patients. fIA patients are older and have more comorbid diseases than sIA patients but this alone does not explain their clinically significant AA risk.

Saccular Intracranial Aneurysms in Children When Both Parents Are Sporadic or Familial Carriers of Saccular Intracranial Aneurysms.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To study the penetrance of saccular intracranial aneurysm (IA) disease in children when both parents carry the disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The Kuopio IA Patient and Family Database includes all 4,411 IA patients admitted to the Kuopio University Hospital from its defined Eastern Finnish catchment population since 1980. We fused IA database with hospital diagnoses for IA patients and their 46,021 relatives from a national registry to identify couples concordant for IA disease. Penetrance of IA disease and hypertension were studied in these families. RESULTS: A total of 3,659 IA patients had 1 or more children. In total, 18 couples concordant for the IA disease with a total of 48 children, all born healthy, were identified. Hypertension was diagnosed in 23 (64%) of the 36 parents, and 7 of the 12 sporadic-sporadic couples were concordant for hypertension. Six sporadic-sporadic couples were concordant for subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). None of the 24 children to the 12 sporadic-sporadic couples had been diagnosed with SAH or IA disease. Instead, 11 (46%) of the 24 children to the 6 familial-sporadic couples had a diagnosed with SAH or IA disease. CONCLUSIONS: Couples concordant for IA disease are uncommon but not exceedingly rare. Biparental sporadic exposure does not seem to increase the risk of a clinically diagnosed IA disease or SAH in the offspring. IAs were common in the children with biparental sporadic-familial exposure.

Polycystic kidney disease among 4,436 intracranial aneurysm patients from a defined population.

OBJECTIVE: To define the association of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) with the characteristics of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) and unruptured intracranial aneurysm (IA) disease. METHODS: We fused data from the Kuopio Intracranial Aneurysm database (n = 4,436 IA patients) and Finnish nationwide registries into a population-based series of 53 IA patients with ADPKD to compare the aneurysm- and patient-specific characteristics of IA disease in ADPKD and in the general IA population, and to identify risks for de novo IA formation. RESULTS: In total, there were 33 patients with ADPKD with aSAH and 20 patients with ADPKD with unruptured IAs. The median size of ruptured IAs in ADPKD was significantly smaller than in the general population (6.00 vs 8.00 mm) and the proportion of small ruptured IAs was significantly higher (31% vs 18%). Median age at aSAH was 42.8 years, 10 years younger than in the general IA population. Multiple IAs were present in 45% of patients with ADPKD compared to 28% in the general IA population. Cumulative risk of de novo IA formation was 1.3% per patient-year (vs 0.2% in the general IA population). Hazard for de novo aneurysm formation was significantly elevated in patients with ADPKD (Cox regression hazard ratio 7.7, 95% confidence interval 2.8-20; p < 0.0005). CONCLUSIONS: Subarachnoid hemorrhage occurs at younger age and from smaller IAs in patients with ADPKD and risk for de novo IAs is higher than in the general Eastern Finnish population. ADPKD should be considered as an indicator for long-term angiographic follow-up in patients with diagnosed IAs.