RISK-FACTORS FOR PRIMARY CEREBRAL-HEMORRHAGE - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY - THE STROKE REGISTRY OF DIJON

Risk factors for primary cerebral hemorrhage remain uncertain. The pop ulation-based Stroke Registry of Dijon provides data on the risk facto rs. Among residents of Dijon (France), 130 cases of primary cerebral h emorrhage hospitalized from 1985 to 1992 were matched with 130 control s by age and sex. The following data were collected: history of hypert ension, alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, history of coagulati on disorder, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and infectious disease i n the 7 days before admission. The following parameters were measured on admission: blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride s, hematocrit, fibrinogen, prothrombin levels, platelet counts, prothr ombin time, bilirubin, transaminases, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and a lkaline phosphatase. Electrocardiogram and Doppler ultrasound examinat ion of cervical arteries were performed. Statistical analysis was perf ormed by means of relative risk ratio for paired samples when dealing with proportions, and Student's t test for quantitative variables. A s tepwise discriminant analysis was carried out to establish the relativ e weight of the different risk factors and their discriminant values. Among the qualitative data, the significant fao tors were history of h ypertension, alcohol consumption, cardiac arrhythmia, atherosclerosis of carotid arteries and a previous infectious disease in the 7 days be fore admission. Among the quantitative data, the significant factors w ere early hypertension, high blood glucose levels, high hematocrit, an d low cholesterol levels, in the acute stage of the stroke. After mult ifactorial analysis, only two factors were significant: hypertension a nd low cholesterol levels. Our population-based case-control study sho wed that hypertension and low cholesterol levels are the two discrimin ant risk factors for both lobar and basal ganglia primary cerebral hem orrhage. There fore, treatment of hypercholesterolemia may increase ri sk of cerebral hemorrhage.