Approved research

Prevalence, causes, risk factors and outcomes of intracranial haemorrhage in the UK Biobank cohort.

Lay summary

Intracranial haemorrhage includes bleeding anywhere within the skull. This application will focus on intracerebral haemorrhage (rapid bleeding into the brain substance), the most lethal form of stroke. We will investigate how previous brain scan findings and 'risk factors' (like high blood pressure) affect the risk of brain haemorrhage, which should help us to identify new ways to prevent it. Superficial siderosis of the central nervous system (CNS) (due to chronic bleeding around the brain and spinal cord) is a rare but disabling condition causing deafness and walking problems in younger people. It is usually due to a tear in the membrane around the brain or spinal cord due to either trauma or previous surgery. We will define the prevalence of this condition in the UK Biobank cohort for the first time, and investigate how it affects function such as walking, balance and hearing. This will allow better planing of services to help treat people with this disease. We will also investigate genetic risk factors that month affect the body's ability to absorb the harmful bleeding products. Our research questions are: (1) How common are brain imaging changes of cerebral small vessel diseases that cause intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) in the UK Biobank population? (2) How common are brain imaging changes of superficial siderosis of the central nervous system (CNS) amongts UK Biobank participants? (3) What risk factors are associated with these brain imaging findings (ICH and superficial siderosis of the CNS), and what is their clinical impact? (4) What are the clinical, genetic and brain imaging predictors of incident intracerebral haemorrhage and other types of stroke? (5) What are the clinical outcomes (daily function, cognition, etc.) for intracerebral haemorrhage, and other types of stroke, and how are these affected but the presence of small vessel disease?