Smoking associated with fatal bleeding in the brain
There is a strong association between smoking cigarettes and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), according to new research out of Finland.
The study, published in full in Stroke, focused on data from the Finnish Twin Cohort, a database of more than 16,000 pairs of twins born from 1958 to 1974. All twin pairs included in the study were the same sex.
Tracking nearly 870,000 person-years of follow-up data, the team observed 116 pairs of twins where one twin died from SAH. There were two more twin pairs where both twins died from SAH. The authors were unable to determine how many study participants experienced non-fatal SAH events.
Overall, the authors noted, smoking is strongly associated with SAH. “Heavy” and “moderate” smokers had three times the risk of dying from SAH, and “light” smokers still had 2.8 times the risk. The median age at the time of death was 61.4 years old.
Also, the researchers noted, high blood pressure, physical activity and sex did not appear to be associated with an increased risk of dying from SAH.
“Our study provides further evidence about the link between smoking and bleeding in the brain,” lead author Ilari Rautalin, BM, a PhD student at the University of Helsinki in Finland, said in a prepared statement.
“This long-term study in twins helps to confirm the link between subarachnoid hemorrhage and smoking,” added Rose Marie Robertson, MD, deputy chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association and co-director of the AHA Tobacco Center for Regulatory Science, who was not involved in the study. “Not smoking, or quitting if you've already started, is an essential component of primary prevention.”
The full study from Stroke is available here.
Michael has more than 19 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.