Risk factors for aneurysm growth

No. of StudiesProportion of Growing Aneurysms per Patient-Year (95% CI)I2P Value
Overall growth rate213.0 (2.0–4.0)95
Age (yr)
    50 or younger60.9 (0.0–24.7)93<.0001
    50 or older33.8 (1.3–11.5)96
    70 or younger52.4 (0.4–16.3)96.04
    70 or older12.5 (1.2–5.4)NA
Population
    Japanese92.7 (1.5–4.7)82
    Finnish12.4 (1.7–3.3)NA
Sex
    Male121.3 (0.5–3.6)90<.01
    Female123.2 (1.6–6.3)95
Aneurysm location
    ICA132.5 (1.1–5.5)92<.01
    MCA133.3 (1.4–7.9)87
    ACA/AcomA131.8 (0.8–4.2)89
    VBA123.6 (1.3–9.9)85
    Cavernous carotid artery214.4 (5.1–40.2)75
Anterior vs posterior
    Anterior142.7 (1.4–5.0)95<.01
    Posterior133.8 (1.5–9.9)84
Multiple aneurysms
    Yes132.3 (1.1–4.8)85.80
    No113.0 (1.7–5.4)86
Prior SAH
    Yes92.2 (0.7–6.8)92.06
    No84.7 (1.9–11.6)95
Family history
    Yes75.0 (1.6–15.1)79.58
    No73.8 (1.5–9.3)97
HTN
    Yes113.9 (1.9–8.0)92.88
    No114.0 (1.9–8.0)93
Smoking
    Yes125.5 (3.0–9.9)81<.01
    No113.5 (1.7–7.1)94
Shape
    Saccular45.2 (2.3–11.8)75<.01
    Lobular215.2 (5.8–40.2)0
    Daughter sac116.7 (4.9–56.7)NA
    Fusiform113.7 (6.4–29.5)NA
Shape
    Saccular45.2 (2.3–11.8)75<.01
    Nonsaccular414.7 (8.6–25.2)0
Size (mm)
    <344.1 (1.3–12.9)88<.01
    >3155.2 (2.9–9.3)87
    <592.3 (1.2–4.2)89<.01
    >5136.5 (3.6–12.0)84
    <7112.5 (1.5–4.1)90<.01
    >7109.2 (4.1–20.6)84
    <10152.9 (1.6–5.2)96<.01
    >10109.7 (4.0–23.8)81
    <13153.0 (1.6–5.3)96<.01
    >1358.1 (1.8–36.1)83
Study risk of bias
    High152.9 (1.6–5.6)95<.01
    Medium41.7 (0.4–7.2)92
    Low21.7 (0.8–3.4)86
  • Note:—AcomA indicates anterior communicating artery; VBA, vertebrobasilar artery; HTN, hypertension; ACA, anterior cerebral artery; NA, not applicable.