What are the differences between Finnish and Dutch patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage?
Van Munster et al. (2008) studied the differences in aneurysm and patient characteristics between cohorts of Finnish and Dutch patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage and found that the Finnish patients had a higher incidence of small aneurysms and higher rates of hypertension and smoking compared to the Dutch patients. Furthermore, the Finnish patients had a higher incidence of aneurysms in the anterior communicating artery and lower incidence in the posterior communicating artery compared to the Dutch patients. In addition, the authors found that the incidence of unruptured aneurysms was higher in the Finnish patients than in the Dutch patients. The authors concluded that the differences in patient characteristics and aneurysm incidence may explain the differences observed in the mortality rates between the two countries.