NONTRAUMATIC CEREBRAL-HEMORRHAGE IN SAUDI ARABS - A HOSPITAL-BASED STUDY OF 243 CASES

This is a retrospective study involving 243 Saudi Arabs with non-traum atic cerebral hemorrhages confirmed by CT scan. Intracerebral hemorrha ges accounted for about 20% of all strokes in this population. The mal e to female ratio was 2.74 which is slightly higher than those reporte d from elsewhere. Peak frequency was around 60 years. Hypertension was the most common cause accounting for 64% of the cases, hemopathies/co agulopathies for 10% and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) for 6%. Th e cause was undetermined in 21% of patients. Amyloid angiopathy was pr obably underrepresented due to lack of autopsy correlation. The etiolo gies were, however, age-related with a clear predominance of AVMs and coagulation disorders before the age of 40 years. Hypertensive hemorrh ages were located in the putamen in 46% of cases compared to 20% in no n-hypertensive patients while 52% of non hypertensive hemorrhages were lobar in location compared to 20.5% in hypertensives. Early mortality (19%) in our series was relatively low compared to reports from the i ndustrialized world.