Does alcohol intoxication precipitate aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage?

Seventy-five consecutive patients aged 15 to 55 years with aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage verified by CSF examination and cerebral angiography or at necropsy were studied. In 19 cases (25%; four women and 15 men) the bleeding was preceded within 24 hours by a bout of alcohol drinking. Alcohol-related cases composed 33% and 14% of the patients in the age groups 15-40 and 41-55 years, respectively. Alcohol intoxication preceding the subarachnoid haemorrhage was two to four times as common in male and three to five times as common in female patients as alcohol intoxication in the general Finnish population of the same age and sex. Occasional alcohol intoxication seems to carry an increased risk of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage.