Advancing age, alcohol consumption, atherosclerosis, cigarette smoking, illicit drug use (cocaine or amphetamine), high blood pressure, and head injury are some risk factors for a brain aneurysm.

Dr. Italo Linfante, Medical Director of Interventional Neuroradiology and Endovascular Neurosurgery with Baptist Health Neuroscience Center, says women tend to have an aneurysm more than men. “Women that smoke or have alcohol consumption are more likely, not only to develop an aneurysm, but also to have a ruptured aneurysm,” he points out.