Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the recent epid
emiology of mortality from subarachnoid hemorrhage in the United State
s. Background: Subarachnoid hemorrhage is distinct from other forms of
stroke in its risk factors, demographics, and treatment. However, it
is often clustered with other stroke subtypes, obscuring its unique ep
idemiology. Methods: We analyzed subarachnoid hemorrhage mortality dat
a from the National Center for Health Statistics of the United States
for the years 1979 to 1994 and compared it with other stroke subtypes.
Results: Age-adjusted mortality rates of subarachnoid hemorrhage were
62% greater in females than in males and 57% greater in blacks than i
n whites. The median age of death from subarachnoid hemorrhage was 59
years compared with 73 years for intracerebral hemorrhage and 81 years
for ischemic stroke. Mortality rates of subarachnoid hemorrhage have
decreased by approximately 1% per year since 1979, and the mean age of
death has steadily increased from 57 years in 1979 to 60 years in 199
4. Subarachnoid hemorrhage accounted far 4.4% of stroke mortality but
27.3% of all stroke-related years of potential life lost before age 65
, a measure of premature mortality. The proportion of years of potenti
al life lost due to subarachnoid hemorrhage was comparable with ischem
ic stroke (38.5%) and intracranial hemorrhage (34.2%). Conclusions: Su
barachnoid hemorrhage is an uncommon cause of stroke mortality but occ
urs at a young age, producing a relatively large burden of premature m
ortality, comparable with ischemic stroke.