Risk Factors

Risk factors that doctors and researchers believe contribute to the formation of brain aneurysms:

  Smoking
  High blood pressure or hypertension
  Congenital resulting from inborn abnormality in artery wall

  Family history of brain aneurysms
  Age over 40
  Gender, women compared with men have an increased incidence of aneurysms at a ratio of 3:2
  Other disorders: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Polycystic Kidney Disease, Marfan Syndrome, and Fibromuscular Dysplasia (FMD)
  Presence of an Arteriovenous Malformation AVM
  Drug use, particularly cocaine
  Infection
  Tumors
  Traumatic head injury

Risk factors that doctors and researchers believe contribute to the rupture of brain aneurysms:

  Smoking

  High blood pressure or hypertension