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Seasonal variation of intracerebral haemorrhage in subjects with untreated hypertension
Author(s) -
Saloheimo P.,
Tetri S.,
Juvela S.,
Pyhtinen J.,
Hillbom M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2008.01125.x
Subject(s) - medicine , incidence (geometry) , blood pressure , cohort , cohort study , risk factor , population , pediatrics , environmental health , optics , physics
Objectives – To explore the seasonality in the incidence of spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) in relation to the known risk factors in a population‐based cohort. Materials and methods – All subjects with spontaneous ICH during a period of 3 years in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, were included. The associations of the risk factors for ICH with the cold (November to April) and warm (May to October) periods of the year were analysed. Results – We identified 217 patients with ICH during the study period. One hundred and seven cases occurred during the warm and 110 cases during the cold period. In multivariate analysis, untreated hypertension was associated with a 3.6‐fold risk of ICH during the cold period (OR 3.60; 95% CI 1.27–10.21; P = 0.016). Conclusions – An excess risk of ICH in subjects with untreated hypertension seems to be associated with the cold season. This is probably explained by the effect of ambient temperature on blood pressure.