| dc.description.abstract | Objective: To conduct a population based study of brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
prevalence.
Methods: Multiple, overlapping sources of case ascertainment were used to establish the point prevalence
of brain AVMs in the adult population of the Lothian health board of Scotland. Patients were
sought retrospectively from all local general (family) practitioners, neurologists, neurosurgeons, stroke
physicians, the specialist AVM clinic at the regional neuroscience centre, and routine coding of hospital
discharge data. Case notes, brain imaging, and pathology reports were reviewed to validate each
patient’s diagnosis and to ensure that each was alive, over the age of 16 years, and resident in the
geographical area of the study on the prevalence date of 30 June 1998.
Results: Of 148 potentially eligible people, 93 adults met the inclusion criteria. There were 40 women
and 53 men. Men were significantly younger than women on the prevalence date (median age 39
years v 51 years, p = 0.003). Of those included, 25 (27%) had radiological evidence of prior therapeutic
obliteration of their brain AVM and 9 (10%) had coexisting aneurysms. The minimum crude
brain AVM prevalence was 15 per 100 000 adults and capture-recapture analysis gave an ascertainment
adjusted prevalence of 18 (95% confidence interval 16 to 24) per 100 000 adults.
Conclusions: The minimum estimate of brain AVM prevalence helps to assess its burden and
comparative epidemiology and stresses the importance of brain AVMs as a cause of long term disability
in adults. | en |
