Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 30, 2025
Intracranial Pressure Monitoring In Nontraumatic Intraventricular Hemorrhage Rodent Model
Published on: February 8, 2022
Risk Factors of Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Case-Control Study
Hanne Sallinen1, Arto Pietilä2, Veikko Salomaa2
1Department of Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Insights
Hypertension and fatigue are key risk factors for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). This study highlights their importance, especially in younger individuals, for understanding ICH causes.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Epidemiology
- Public Health
Background:
- Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a serious neurological event.
- Hypertension is a known ICH risk factor, but other factors like smoking, diabetes, and alcohol have conflicting evidence.
- This study investigates additional potential risk factors, including prior depression and fatigue.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify and assess various risk factors associated with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
- To explore the role of hypertension, fatigue, and other potential contributors to ICH.
- To analyze risk factors across different age groups (<70 and ≥70 years).
Main Methods:
- Population-based case-control study involving 250 primary ICH patients and 750 matched controls from Finland.
- Controls were selected from the FINRISK study, matched for sex and age (5-year bands).
- Univariate analyses and binary logistic regression were used to compare patients and controls, with separate analyses for age categories.
Main Results:
- ICH cases exhibited higher rates of hypertension, prior heart attack history, and lipid-lowering medication use, along with increased reports of fatigue.
- In individuals under 70, hypertension and fatigue were more prevalent among ICH cases.
- For individuals aged 70 and above, fatigue, lipid-lowering medication use, and being overweight were associated with ICH risk.
Conclusions:
- Hypertension is a significant risk factor for ICH, particularly in patients under 70 years old.
- Fatigue preceding ICH is a common finding across all studied ICH cases.
- The study underscores the importance of managing hypertension and recognizing fatigue as potential indicators for ICH risk.
Background:
Hypertension is a well-known risk factor for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). On many of the other potential risk factors, such as smoking, diabetes, and alcohol intake, results are conflicting. We assessed risk factors of ICH, taking also into account prior depression and fatigue.
Methods:
This is a population-based case-control study of 250 primary ICH patients, conducted in Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. The controls (n = 750) were participants of the FINRISK study, a large Finnish population survey on risk factors of chronic noncommunicable diseases, matched with cases by sex and age. Ages were matched in 5-year age bands. However, as the oldest FINRISK participants were 74-year-olds, controls for the age group 75-84 were selected from the age group of 70-74 years. Patients aged greater than or equal to 85 years were excluded. Patients and controls were compared in univariate analyses. The age categories less than 70, and greater than or equal to 70 years were also analyzed separately. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed for variables with P less than .1 in univariate analysis.
Results:
Analyzing all cases and controls, the cases had more hypertension, history of heart attack, lipid-lowering medication, and reported more frequently fatigue prior to ICH. In persons aged less than 70 years, hypertension and fatigue were more common among cases. In persons aged greater than or equal to 70 years, factors associated with risk of ICH were fatigue prior to ICH, use of lipid-lowering medication, and overweight.
Conclusions:
Hypertension was associated with risk of ICH among all patients and in the group of patients under 70 years. Fatigue prior to ICH was more common among all ICH cases.
