Smokers with intracranial aneurysms who underwent neurosurgical or endovascular treatment have not stopped smoking one year after surgery.

Smoking increases the risk of forming, growing, and rupture of intracranial aneurysms. We retrospectively reviewed patients with intracranial aneurysms treated by neurosurgical or endovascular treatment--154 patients (45 men, 109 women, 15 to 62 years, average 46.3 years, CI +/- 1.72). We found 74% (114/154) of smokers--80% (36/45) men and 71.6% (78/109) women, with the mean value of the Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence 4.4 (CI +/- 0.40). The average age of smoking initiation was 18.2 years (CI +/- 0.66), the average period of smoking 26.8 years (CI +/- 2.13). The average number of cigarettes consumed daily was 18.2 (CI +/- 1.58). With statistical significance p < 0.05, the athero-index was lower in nonsmokers than smokers: 3.4 (CI +/- 0.56) vs. 4.5 (CI +/- 0.51). HDL cholesterol was higher in non-smokers than smokers: 1.6 mmol/L (CI +/- 0.25) vs. 1.4 (CI +/- 0.10), and triglycerides were higher in smokers than non-smokers: 1.3 mmol/l (CI +/- 0.16) vs. 1.9 (CI +/- 0.35). Forty-two per cent of smokers (48/114) were controlled one year after the treatment; 18.8% of them stopped smoking, 41.7% reduced smoking, and 39.6% continued to smoke as extensively as before. The prevalence of smoking in our sample was higher than in the Czech population (28.2%). Only 18.8% of controlled smokers were able to quit one year after the intervention.