Spontaneous subarachnoid hemorrhage in young adults.

We evaluated 95 hospitalized patients (50 women and 45 men) aged 15 to 45 who had nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Aneurysmal SAH was identified in 75 patients. Other causes for SAH were ruptured arteriovenous malformations (2 cases), amphetamine arteritis (1 case), and leptomeningeal melanoma (1 case). The cause of SAH was undetermined in 16 (17%) patients. Thirteen patients had histories of hypertension, 5 used oral contraceptives, and 4 had consumed large quantities of alcohol during the day before SAH. Only 1 patient had Type I diabetes mellitus. Diagnosis was delayed in 21 patients. Operation was performed in 71 patients, with only 3 (4.2%) deaths. The overall mortality was 8.4% (8 of 95), with all deaths due to neurological causes. Our data suggest that the overall management and surgical results of treatment of ruptured aneurysms in young adults are excellent, diabetes is rare among young adults with SAH, recent alcohol consumption does not seem to be a major factor predisposing to SAH in young adults, and misinterpretation of the early symptoms of SAH continues to be a serious problem.