Background and objective: In the etiopathogenesis of spontaneous intracranial haemorrhages (SICH) a number of risk factors (RF) plays a part. The objective of the prospective study was to evaluate the role of modifiable RF in different subtypes of SICH. Methods: The authors examined a group of 105 patients with SICH, incl. 88 intracerebral haemorrhages (ICH) and 17 subarachnoid/intraventricular (SAH/IVH) ones. The incidence of the following non-metabolic RF and their combinations was investigated: oral anticoagulant therapy and other coagulopathies, thrombocytopenia, salicylate treatment and oral contraceptives, use of drugs, smoking, acute and chronic alcohol intake. The authors investigated also the incidence of the mentioned non-metabolic RF in combination with metabolic RF (arterial hypertension AH), diabetes mellitus/impaired glucose tolerance (DM/IGT), obesity, dyslipidaemia. For evaluation of the statistical significance of results the χ2 test was used. Results: Combination of chronic alcohol consumption and active smoking was more frequent in patients with SAH/IVH than in ICH – in 31.2% vs. 12.0% (p=0.053). Conclusion: Combination of chronic alcohol consumption and active smoking in our population plays a significant part in the etiopathogenesis of SAH/IVH.

        Key words: spontaneous intracranial haemorrhage, spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage, subarachnoid haemorrhage, risk factors