One of the consequences of smoking in adults is geneticpredisposed to smoking behavioris often a severe type of stroke. Such diseases are known in medicine as subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). This emerges from a new study. The results of this study therefore provide important evidence that there is a causal relationship between smoking and stroke risk.
Subarachnoid hemorrhage as a possible consequence of smoking
So, subarachnoid hemorrhage is a type of stroke that occurs when a blood vessel on the surface of the brain ruptures. This causes the space between the brain and the skull to bleed. This mainly affects middle-aged adults and has a high complication and death rate. Previous studies have shown that smoking is associated with a higher risk of SAH. But it was unclear whether this or another confounding condition such as high blood pressure was a cause of the stroke, the study authors said. However, a definitive, causal relationship between smoking and the risk of SAH has not yet been established. To determine whether this was the case, researchers analyzed genetic data from 408,609 people from the UK Biobank aged 40 to 69 at the time of recruitment (2016-2010).
The incidence of SAH was collected throughout the study. By the end of the observation, a total of 904 cases of SAH had occurred. The research team developed a genetic risk assessment system that included genetic markers of smoking risk and tracked data on smoking behavior. These data were collected at the time of recruitment of each participant. The researchers found that the relationship between smoking and SAH risk appears to be linear. Those who didn't smoke as many packs of cigarettes per year had a 27% increased risk. Chain smokers were almost three times more at risk for SAH than non-smokers. People who were genetically predisposed to smoking behavior had a 63%higher risk of strokeon.
Conclusions from the study results
The research findings provide justification for future studies that should focus on evaluating whether information about genetic variants that lead to smoking can be used to better identify people at high risk of one of these types of brain bleeds. These targeted populations may benefit from aggressive diagnostic interventions. In addition, these would lead to early detection of the aneurysms that cause this serious type of bleeding. The researchers claim that while their findings suggest a stronger and more harmful effect of smoking in women and adults with high blood pressure, they believe larger studies are neededthese study resultsto confirm. Their analysis is also limited by the type of data used in the UK biobank. Like all major sources of information, this is based on treatment codes from medical charts that are standardized. Smaller studies, on the other hand, focus on more detailed health records and information for each individual.
