Abstract

Introduction: Non-traumatic Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ICH) accounts for 2 million strokes annually worldwide. This stroke burden disproportionately impacts minorities, and results in severe neurological deficits. Sex differences in brain structure and function, such as a larger mean length of frontal horn in males and increased global cerebral blood flow in women, can contribute to hematoma volume and expansion of ICH into nearby structures. No studies have yet to investigate sex differences in the incidence of Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH) and hydrocephalus as sequelae of ICH, both or which correlate with poor long-term outcomes. Methods: A retrospective review of a comprehensive stroke center spontaneous ICH database from 2019-2022 was performed, including patient characteristics such as history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, tobacco use, and anticoagulant use in addition to ICH characteristics such as hematoma location volume, expansion, incidence of IVH and hydrocephalus. A logistic regression model controlling for these covariates was built to investigate sex differences in incidence of IVH and hydrocephalus. Results: This cohort had 100 patients with spontaneous, non-traumatic ICH, of which 39% were female. Overall, 52/100 (52%) patients had IVH and 21/100 (21%) patients developed hydrocephalus. Among males, 29/61(48%) had IVH as opposed to 23/39 (59%) in females, p = 0.264. There was similar development of hydrocephalus in both males 13/61(21%) and females 8/39 (21%). Logistic regression showed females had higher odds of IVH. Higher diastolic blood pressure and anticoagulant use on admission also had higher odds of IVH. Conclusion: This pilot study demonstrates a trend towards higher incidence of IVH among females when controlling for history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, tobacco use, and anticoagulant use. Higher odds of IVH in patients with higher diastolic blood pressure on admission adds to the previously investigated association between systolic blood pressure and ICH hematoma volume. Our sample validated the higher odds of IVH in patients with anticoagulant use on admission.

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