People who have been diagnosed with a brain aneurysm may be more susceptible to certain mental health conditions, according to a study published by the American Heart Association (AHA).
The knowledge of an unruptured aneurysm increased the risk of anxiety, stress, depression, insomnia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and alcohol or drug misuse by 10% over a 10-year period, the researchers found.
An unruptured aneurysm occurs when a blood vessel in the brain becomes weak and bulges out — creating the risk of a potentially deadly rupture, per the AHA.
The effect was most seen in adults under 40 years of age, and the risk was three times greater among those who received an official mental health diagnosis.
The researchers analyzed data for 85,438 adults with untreated aneurysms between 2011 and 2019, comparing them to 331,000 adults without aneurysms.
The data came …