Effect of age on clinical and morphological characteristics in patients with brain arteriovenous malformation

• Published in: Stroke (1970) 2003-11, Vol.34 (11), p.2664-2669
• Main Authors: Stapf, C, Khaw, A V, Sciacca, R R, Hofmeister, C, Schumacher, H C, Pile-Spellman, J, Mast, H, Mohr, J P, Hartmann, A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Age Factors; Cerebral Hemorrhage - diagnosis; Cerebral Hemorrhage - etiology; Child; Cohort Studies; Databases, Factual; Female; Headache - etiology; Humans; Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations - complications; Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations - diagnosis; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Models, Statistical; Nervous System Diseases - diagnosis; Nervous System Diseases - etiology; Prospective Studies; Risk Factors; Seizures - diagnosis; Seizures - etiology; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• ISSN: 0039-2499; 1524-4628
• DOI: 10.1161/01.STR.0000094824.03372.9B

The goal of this work was to determine the effect of age at initial presentation on clinical and morphological characteristics in patients with brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM). The 542 consecutive patients from the prospective Columbia AVM database (mean+/-SD age, 34+/-15 years) were analyzed. Univariate statistical models were used to test the effect of age at initial presentation on clinical (AVM hemorrhage, seizures, headaches, neurological deficit, other/asymptomatic) and morphological (AVM size, venous drainage pattern, AVM brain location, concurrent arterial aneurysms) characteristics. Hemorrhage was the presenting symptom in 46% (n=247); 29% (n=155) presented with seizures, 13% (n=71) with headaches, 7% (n=36) with a neurological deficit, and 6% (n=33) without AVM-related symptoms. Increasing age correlated positively with intracranial hemorrhage (P=0.001), focal neurological deficits (P=0.007), infratentorial AVMs (P