Incidence of Nontraumatic Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Increasing

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) — From 2007 to 2017, there was an increase in the incidence of nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), according to a study published online Oct. 26 in Neurology.

Christina Xia, M.D., from SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study of 39,475 new cases of SAH in the State Inpatients Databases of New York and Florida (2007 to 2017). The annual percentage change (APC) in incidence was computed and trends over time were examined.

The researchers found that the average annual age/sex-standardized incidence of SAH was 11.4 per 100,000 population, with higher incidence observed in women versus men (13.1 versus 9.6). In both sexes, incidence increased with age (3.6 and 22.0 for men aged 20 to 44 years and 65 years or older, respectively). Black patients had higher age- and sex-standardized incidence than non-Hispanic Whites (15.4 versus 9.9) and other races and ethnicities. Incidence increased over time (APC, 0.7 percent), with most of the increase seen in men aged 45 to 64 years, men aged 65 years or older, and women aged 65 years or older (APCs, 1.1, 2.3, and 0.7 percent, respectively). Incidence declined in women aged 20 to 44 years (APC, −0.7 percent); no change was seen in other age/sex groups. Black patients experienced an increase in incidence (APC, 1.8 percent), while no significant change was seen for Asian, Hispanic, or non-Hispanic White patients.

“The incidence of this type of stroke is disproportionately higher, and increasing, in Black people, leading to a widening of the racial incidence gap,” a coauthor said in a statement.