Skip to main content

The frequency and impact of tramadol addiction on acute aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: cross-sectional multicenter study

Abstract

Background

Arterial hypertension, cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol abuse and drug addiction such as cocaine all are known risk factors for aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). However, there is little information on whether tramadol addiction should also be considered as a risk factor for SAH. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and the impact of tramadol addiction on the symptomatology of intracranial aneurysmal SAH. We recruited 237 cases with acute aneurysmal ASH with a mean age of 52.3 ± 11.8 ranging from 17 to 86 years old.

Results

There were 124 males and 113 females; 43 cases had a history of tramadol addiction (18.1%). Tramadol addicts were significantly younger, more likely to be male (97.7%), and more commonly associated with seizure onset compared with non-addicts. Multiple aneurysms, wide neck, and sizable aneurysms were significantly more common in tramadol than non-tramadol addicts as were dissecting aneurysms. There is a high association of acute aneurysmal SAH with tramadol addiction, especially in young patients.

Conclusions

Tramadol addiction might be regarded as modifiable risk factor of aneurysmal ASH and tramadol addicts had a worse presentation than non-tramadol addicts. If this finding is proved, it will be of great importance in managing patients with ruptured and un-ruptured intracranial aneurysms. Tramadol is available over-counter in some countries, more studies are needed.

Background

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is associated with high mortality, morbidity, and permanent disability [1, 2] and is one of the main targets of neurocritical care service [3,4,5]. Aneurysmal SAH had a higher incidence rate than non-aneurysmal SAH (2.08/100,000 versus 0.9/100,000 person-years). In-hospital mortality was 18.2% with no significant difference between aneurysmal SAH and non-aneurysmal SAH subgroups [6].

Approximately half of all survivors cannot back to their previous work, and up to a 25% rely on others for care [7]. Rumalla and colleagues (2023) found that; lack of caregiver support was the only socioeconomic factor associated with an unfavorable outcome at discharge [8]. Possible factors which can cause aneurysm rupture are only partly known.

Some intrinsic and extrinsic factors have been so far identified, including the location, size, surface, and hemodynamic characteristics of the aneurysm [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]. Moreover, common cardiovascular risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse, and arterial hypertension have been found to foster the gradual increase of aneurysm size, finally leading to rupture [17]. Addiction to sympathomimetic drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines has also a direct effect on the outcome of aneurysmal SAH. Remarkably, Howington and colleagues have found that 33% of SAH patients were recent cocaine users [18].

Unfortunately, tramadol abuse has increased in Egypt over the last few years [19]. It is the most popular drug abused among the young and the middle-aged, because it is easily accessible through the black market and can be provided at low cost [19, 20]. In Egypt, and regardless to the order of abuse, cannabis and tramadol are on the top list of the drug/substances used according to statistics of Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction (FDCTA). Half of the 129,850 people who entered drug rehabilitation in 2007 were addicted to cannabis, while 43% were dependent on opiates of various types. The majority of them are between 15 and 25 years of age. Rising rates of unemployment are said to contribute to the high addiction rates [21,22,23]. The rates of sub-stance use are increasing markedly with time in Egypt. The group of young adults was the most represented age group among substance users [24]. Mawaheb and colleagues [25] performed a survey of substance abuse on school and young university male students in Fayoum Governorate showed that cannabis was the commonest substance of abuse (40%), tramadol (37%), benzodiazepines (23%), and parkinol (9%). Rabie and colleagues found the percentage for tramadol addiction 1.5% among young adults [26]. We suspected that there were a disproportionate number of tramadol users among patients with aneurysmal SAH in Egypt.

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of tramadol addiction among patients with acute aneurysmal SAH, and to investigate the impact of tramadol addiction on symptomatology of aneurysmal SAH.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional multicenter study (Ain Shams, Cairo, Assiut, and Aswan Universities) was performed for 237 patients with acute aneurysmal SAH during the period from February 2021 to December 2022. As the Egyptian population is distributed all over the country; we selected 4 University hospitals 2 from North (Ain Shams and Cairo), one from Middle (Assiut) and one from South of Egypt (Aswan). A very severe headache of sudden onset combined with meningism was the clinical hallmark of recruited cases of acute aneurysmal SAH. The diagnostic method of choice for demonstrating the presence of blood in the subarachnoid space was computed tomography (CT) of the head in all cases. All subjects gave written informed consent before participation. Inclusion Criteria; Patients ≥ 17 of age, acute aneurysmal SAH within 48 h, with spontaneous ruptured saccular intracranial aneurysm and history of tramadol addiction if present for at least 12 months before admission according to DSM-5 criteria [27]. Exclusion Criteria: patients with fusiform or mycotic aneurysm, tumoral, or AVM-related aneurysm were excluded. Patients receiving anticoagulants, or with a history of blood disease and patients who had serious or life-threatening comorbidity (metabolic dysfunction, psychiatric illness) were also excluded.

Following clinical examination, each patient’s history was taken including risk factors (smoking, hypertension, Diabetes Mellitus, drug abuse), Hunt and Hess Score [28], and digital subtraction angiography (Siemens Artis uniplane angiography machine, Siemens Health care GmbH, USA) was performed to determine the type of aneurysm. The aneurysm was described in terms of neck size in mm, neck to dome ratio (aneurysms with wide necks, defined by neck diameters greater than 4 mm or dome-to-neck ratios less than 2 [28], multiplicity, dissection, and site of the aneurysm using 4 vessel angiographies. Size of the aneurysm was measured and considered small-sized if < 7 mm, moderate-sized > 7 < 20 mm) and giant-sized > 20 mm [29].

Patients were classified as tramadol and non-tramadol addicts. A patient was considered a tramadol addict if there was a prior history of drug intake for at least 1 year before the episode and/or inability to function normally without the drug for at least 12 months before admission according to DSM-5 criteria [27].

Statistical analysis

Descriptive statistics, crosstabs, and frequency tables were used to describe some of the basic variables. A Mann–Whitney non-parametric test was performed to compare continuous variables, which are expressed as mean ± SD data from the two groups of patients. Categorical variables were compared by Fisher’s exact two-tailed test or by Chi-Square test.

Discriminant analysis was used to determine significant discriminating variables between the groups. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the risk (odds ratios) of tramadol dependency, age group, sex, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, and smoking for the presence of single or multiple aneurysms. All statistical analyses were performed using the statistical package for social sciences SPSS 25 (IBM Inc.) and results were considered significant with a p value < 0.05.

Results

We recruited 237 cases of acute aneurysmal SAH. There were no significant differences between the percent of tramadol addict versus non-tramadol addict between the center of recruitment (Tramadol versus non-tramadol addict 30:170, 5:30, 8:37 for North, Middle and South of Egypt, respectively). The mean age was 52.3 ± 11.8 ranging from 17 to 86 years. There were 124 males and 113 females, and 43 cases had a history of tramadol addiction (18.1%). Tramadol addicts were significantly younger than non-tramadol addicts with a mean difference of 12.2, as shown in Fig. 1, and statistically significant difference (P = 0.0001). In the tramadol addict group, male patients were predominant (97.7%) with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.0001) (Table 1). The highest prevalence of acute aneurysmal SAH in tramadol addicts was in the age groups 30–39, followed by 40–49 years, while the highest incidence in non-tramadol addicts occurred at 50–59 followed by 60–69 years (0.0001) (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Age group analysis of our study. Subarachnoid hemorrhage was found to be eminent third and fourth decades than non addicts

Table 1 Demographic data, clinical presentation and risk factors among the studied groups

Clinical presentation in tramadol addicts

Coma and confusion were significantly higher in tramadol addicts than non-tramadol addict group (58.1%, 25.8%, respectively). Multiple cranial nerve affection was seen more frequently in the tramadol-addict group as compared to the non-tramadol addict group (27.9%, 11.9%, respectively). Onset seizures occurred the near time of initial aneurysm rupture in 30% of cases in the tramadol addict group, while the non-addict group exhibited seizures in only 3.6% of cases. According to Hess and Hunt classification, tramadol-addicts tend to present with poorer grades (VI–V) than non-addicts (46.5%, 26.3%, respectively) with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.008). As regards risk factors associated with aneurysmal SAH, there was a significantly higher percentage of smokers in the tramadol group, while diabetes mellitus and hypertension were significantly higher in the non-tramadol addict group. Tramadol addicts had slightly higher use of salicylates than non-addicts (Table 1).

The extent and co-existence of other drug abuse in either group were plotted in Tables 2 and 3. Tramadol addiction started at 39 years (mean age) with the mean duration of addition was 5 years. Most cases in tramadol addiction group have severe symptoms according to DSM-5 criteria (Table 2). Cannabis and alcohol usage were the most common co-existence drug abuse and mostly related to tramadol addiction with a statistically significant difference (< 0.05), Table 3.

Table 2 Extent of addiction in tramadol addict group
Table 3 Other drug addiction

Table 4 shows the morphological characters of aneurysms among the studied groups. Multiplicity, wide neck, and sizable aneurysms were significantly more common in tramadol addicts than non-addicts as were dissecting aneurysms with a statistically significant difference as shown in Table 4.

Table 4 Morphological characters of aneurysms among the studied groups

The variable of aneurysm's site was homogenously distributed in both groups across all locations (p value > 0.05) except for posterior communicating artery aneurysms which showed a statistically significant difference (0.006), where 57% of them were allocated in the tramadol-addicts group (Table 5).

Table 5 Multivariate logistic regression analysis for aneurysmal multiplicity

Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that only tramadol addiction was considered as a significant risk factor for the presence of multiple aneurysms, as shown in Table 6. The odds ratio (OR) of tramadol addiction for multiple aneurysms was 21.167 (95% CI, 4.35 to 4.13).

Table 6 Frequency of aneurysm location among studied groups

Discussion

Substance abuse is a rising public health concern in Egypt [26, 30,31,32]. Tramadol is one of the most common abused substances in Egypt. It is readily available, relatively cheap, causes euphoric sensation, and allegedly improves sexual performance. The working class seems to be particularly severed by the uprising tramadol epidemic which could end up in an economic and public health crisis [33].

To the best of our knowledge, no previous publication has discussed the effects of tramadol on aneurysmal SAH. The main findings of the present study first 18.1% of patients with acute aneurysmal SAH were recorded as tramadol addicts and tramadol addicts were significantly younger than patients without a history of tramadol addiction and predominantly male (97.7%). Second, tramadol addicts had a worse clinical presentation of SAH than non-tramadol addicts as coma and confusion, multiple cranial nerve affection, seizure onset and poorer grades of Hess and Hunt classification were significantly higher in tramadol addicts than non-addicts. Thirdly: Tramadol addicts are more commonly associated with multiple aneurysms, wide neck, and sizable aneurysms than non-tramadol addicts.

In the present study we try to estimate the prevalence of tramadol addiction in patients with acute SAH, the impact of tramadol on symptomatology of SAH and explain why tramadol may be considered as a risk factor for SAH. and possible mechanism of tramadol in developing aneurysms and their rupture.

Our data suggest that tramadol abuse correlates with chance of early aneurysmal rupture, perhaps by weakening the wall of the aneurysm and should be taken into account during the management of patients with intracranial aneurysms. Medetov and colleagues (2022) found that the youngest age group had higher percentage of rupture intracerebral aneurysm and explained such observation as it might be due to the slower blood flow rate, and calcification of arterial walls among older one [34].

In the current study tramadol addict patients had a worse clinical presentation of SAH and poorer grades of Hess and Hunt classification than non-tramadol addicts. As tramadol abuse can result in stroke either by causing direct damage to cerebral vessels or indirectly, by affecting other organs, such as the heart or the liver (affecting blood coagulation pathways), thus negatively affecting cerebral circulation [35, 36]. Tramadol has a sympathomimetic effect, and other sympathomimetic such as cocaine increase the incidence of SAH and worsen its prognosis [18]. Studies on cocaine showed that it decreases both nitric oxide (NO) production, endothelial No-synthase (eNOS) expression, and endothelial adhesion of monocytes [37]. It also was found that cerebral vessels, predominantly those of small caliber, are infiltrated in a transmural and perivascular fashion by inflammatory cells and promote neutrophils and other monocytes to cross the blood–brain barrier causing cerebral vasculitis and SAH [38]. Further studies are required to probe if tramadol has a similar sympathomimetic effect as potent as cocaine.

Interestingly, a case report published recently of a female patient 32 years came to the hospital with deep coma after massive tramadol ingestion with prolonged high plasma concentrations, a serial imaging showing progressive extension of ischemic edema the author hypothesized a cerebral vasospasm as mechanism of severe brain injury [39]. Cattaneo and colleagues (2023) found that patients with a higher Hunt and Hess score, a lower initial Glasgow Coma Scale score and received a higher median norepinephrine dose developed had more frequent vasospasms [40]. In the present study tramadol addict patients had higher Hunt and Hess scores than non-tramadol addicts with a higher risk for developing vasospasm. Interestingly, most tramadol addict patients (81.4%) were also smokers (nicotine dependence) and few studies have shown that nicotine and opioids modulate each other’s [41]. Since smoking is one of the important risk factors for aneurysm rupture, tramadol may enhance its effect and facilitate rupture. Cigarette smoking has been shown to increase the risk for aneurysmal SAH in several case–control and cohort studies [42,43,44,45]. However, the involved mechanisms by which smoking increases this risk remain elusive. Cigarette smoking can also be a crucial risk factor for subsequent rupture of an un-ruptured aneurysm [42,43,44,45]. Therefore, long-term smoking can induce the formation of an aneurysm as well as lead to an increase in its size by weakening the vessel walls of the cerebral arteries.

Another cause for the worse clinical presentation of SAH in tramadol addict patients is the high incidence of seizure onset (8.6%) as seizures can be a major neurological complication of tramadol addiction [46], Moreover, 13 (30.2%) tramadol addicts in our study had seizures which were significantly higher than non-addicts (3.6%). We suggest that epileptic threshold in young adults with a suspected history of tramadol abuse is much lowered than non-addicts with aneurysmal SAH [47,48,49].

Supporting this result Khedr and colleagues found hyperexcitability of the motor cortex coupled with inhibitory deficits in tramadol dependent patients [46]. Lagard and colleagues (2022) strongly suggested a tramadol-induced allosteric change of the benzodiazepine-binding site of GABAA receptors. Epilepsy is based on abnormal neuronal activities that have been suggested to arise from an excess of excitation (glutamatergic drive) and a defect of inhibition (GABAergic activity) [50] and management of tramadol-poisoned patients should take into account that tramadol-induced seizures are mainly related to a GABAergic pathway [51].

SAH on its own is a devastating presentation of intra-cerebral aneurysms but with tramadol addiction, the added risk of a younger age of presentation; the multiplicity of the aneurysm, as well as dissection worsens the clinical presentation. Zhang and colleagues found an association between the young age and morphological features that lead to rupture, like the presence of daughter and irregular domes, larger flow angle [52]. Liberato found that four aneurysm factors: size ≥ 5 mm, narrow neck, irregular shape, and anterior cerebral/anterior communicating artery location, associated with rupture status [53].

There were several limitations in this study. First, small sample size may not reflect the required subjects to build up a statistically sound conclusion. Second, screening for tramadol addiction lacks either severity classification or even classification into sole drug abuse or part of multiple substances abuse. Third, screening of tramadol abuse is lacking laboratory confirmation of it (serum level of tramadol) or combination of other substance. Finally, functional outcome at discharge was too difficult to be estimated either due to missing data provided or transfer of patients to be more specialized endo/cerebrovascular centers outside the governorates. Further studies should be encouraged to elaborate a cohort study on the impact of tramadol usage and incidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage with strictly designed protocols preliminarily.

Conclusions

There is a high association of acute aneurysmal SAH with tramadol addiction, especially in young patients. Tramadol addiction might be regarded as modifiable risk factor if this finding is proved; it will be of great importance in managing patients with ruptured and unruptured intracranial aneurysms. Further studies on tramadol addiction should, therefore, be performed, since tramadol is available to the public in several countries, some as an over-the-counter drug.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analyzed during this study are available from corresponded on request.

Abbreviations

SAH:

Subarachnoid hemorrhage

CSF:

Cerebrospinal fluid

FDCTA:

Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction

NO:

Nitric oxide

eNOS:

Endothelial NO-synthase

DCI:

Delayed cerebral infarction

GABAA:

γ-Aminobutyric acid type A

DM:

Diabetes mellitus

References

  1. Lawton MT, Vates GE. Subarachnoid hemorrhage. N Engl J Med. 2017;377(3):257–66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Macdonald RL, Schweizer TA. Spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage. Lancet. 2017;389(10069):655–66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Egawa S, Hifumi T, Kawakita K, Okauchi M, Shindo A, Kawanishi M, et al. Impact of neurointensivist-managed intensive care unit implementation on patient outcomes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. J Crit Care. 2016;32:52–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Knopf L, Staff I, Gomes J, McCullough L. Impact of a neurointensivist on outcomes in critically ill stroke patients. Neurocrit Care. 2012;16(1):63–71.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Samuels O, Webb A, Culler S, Martin K, Barrow D. Impact of a dedicated neurocritical care team in treating patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Neurocrit Care. 2011;14(3):334–40.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Mortazavi ZS, Zandifar A, Ub Kim JD, Tierradentro-García LO, Shakarami M, Zamharir FD, et al. Re-evaluating risk factors, incidence, and outcome of aneurysmal and non-aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a population-based registry study from Isfahan Province, Iran, 2016–2020. World Neurosurg. 2023

  7. Osgood ML. Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: review of the pathophysiology and management strategies. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2021;21(9):50.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Rumalla K, Catapano JS, Mahadevan V, Sorkhi SR, Koester SW, Winkler EA, et al. Socioeconomic drivers of outcomes after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage treatment at a large comprehensive stroke center. World Neurosurg. 2023

  9. Cebral JR, Mut F, Weir J, Putman CM. Association of hemodynamic characteristics and cerebral aneurysm rupture. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2011;32(2):264–70.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Hademenos GJ, Massoud TF, Turjman F, Sayre JW. Anatomical and morphological factors correlating with rupture of intracranial aneurysms in patients referred for endovascular treatment. Neuroradiology. 1998;40(11):755–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Hassan T, Timofeev EV, Saito T, Shimizu H, Ezura M, Matsumoto Y, et al. A proposed parent vessel geometry-based categorization of saccular intracranial aneurysms: computational flow dynamics analysis of the risk factors for lesion rupture. J Neurosurg. 2005;103(4):662–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hunt WE, Hess RM. Surgical risk as related to time of intervention in the repair of intracranial aneurysms. J Neurosurg. 1968;28(1):14–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Roman H, Descargues G, Lopes M, Emery E, Clavier E, Diguet A, et al. Subarachnoid hemorrhage due to cerebral aneurysmal rupture during pregnancy. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 2004;83(4):330–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Rosen DS, Macdonald RL. Subarachnoid hemorrhage grading scales: a systematic review. Neurocrit Care. 2005;2(2):110–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Ujiie H, Tamano Y, Sasaki K, Hori T. Is the aspect ratio a reliable index for predicting the rupture of a saccular aneurysm? Neurosurgery. 2001;48(3):495–502; discussion−3.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Weir B, Amidei C, Kongable G, Findlay JM, Kassell NF, Kelly J, et al. The aspect ratio (dome/neck) of ruptured and unruptured aneurysms. J Neurosurg. 2003;99(3):447–51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Feigin VL, Rinkel GJ, Lawes CM, Algra A, Bennett DA, van Gijn J, et al. Risk factors for subarachnoid hemorrhage: an updated systematic review of epidemiological studies. Stroke. 2005;36(12):2773–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Howington JU, Kutz SC, Wilding GE, Awasthi D. Cocaine use as a predictor of outcome in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. J Neurosurg. 2003;99(2):271–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Fawzi MM. Some medicolegal aspects concerning tramadol abuse: the new Middle East youth plague 2010. An Egyptian overview. Egypt J Forensic Sci. 2011;1(2):99–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Salem EA, Wilson SK, Bissada NK, Delk JR, Hellstrom WJ, Cleves MA. Tramadol HCL has promise in on-demand use to treat premature ejaculation. J Sex Med. 2008;5(1):188–93.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Abdel-Salam OME, Galal AF, ElShebiney SA, Gaafar AE-DM. International aspects of cannabis use and misuse. Egypt. 2017.

  22. Nada KH, Suliman el DA. Violence, abuse, alcohol and drug use, and sexual behaviors in street children of Greater Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt. AIDS. 2010;24(Suppl 2):S39-44.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Odejide AO. Status of drug use/abuse in Africa: a review. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2006;4(2):87–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Hamdi E, Sabry N, Sedrak A, Aref, Khowailed, Loza N, et al. Sociodemographic indicators for substance use and abuse in Egypt. 2016.

  25. Mawaheb M eG, Dawood A, El-Sayed S. Drug abuse among students in schools and colleges in Fayoum City. Faculty of Medicine: Fayoum University; 2012.

  26. Rabie M, Shaker NM, Gaber E, El-Habiby M, Ismail D, El-Gaafary M, et al. Prevalence updates of substance use among Egyptian adolescents. Middle East Curr. 2020;27(1):4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. American Psychiatry Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders–DSM-5. Washington: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  28. Kim JW, Park YS. Endovascular treatment of wide-necked intracranial aneurysms : techniques and outcomes in 15 patients. J Korean Neurosurg Soc. 2011;49(2):97–101.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Ruigrok YM. Management of unruptured cerebral aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations. Continuum (Minneapolis, Minn). 2020;26(2):478–98.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Ibrahim AK, Fouad I, Kelly SJ, El Fawal B, Ahmed GK. Prevalence and determinants of Internet Addiction among medical students and its association with depression. J Affect Disord. 2022;314:94–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Ahmed GK, Abdalla AA, Mohamed AM, Mohamed LA, Shamaa HA. Relationship between time spent playing internet gaming apps and behavioral problems, sleep problems, alexithymia, and emotion dysregulations in children: a multicentre study. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2022;16(1):67.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Ahmed GK, Abdalla AA, Mohamed AM, Mohamed LA, Shamaa HA. Relation between internet gaming addiction and comorbid psychiatric disorders and emotion avoidance among adolescents: a cross-sectional study. Psychiatry Res. 2022;312: 114584.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Eldaly AS. Prevalence of tramadol abuse in Egypt: a systematic review and narrative analysis. (2021). Accessed 2023.

  34. Medetov Y, Babi A, Makhambetov Y, Menlibayeva K, Bex T, Kaliyev A, et al. Risk factors for aneurysm rupture among Kazakhs: findings from a national tertiary. BMC Neurol. 2022;22(1):357.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Ho EL, Josephson SA, Lee HS, Smith WS. Cerebrovascular complications of methamphetamine abuse. Neurocrit Care. 2009;10(3):295–305.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Büttner A. Review: the neuropathology of drug abuse. Neuropathol Appl Neurobiol. 2011;37(2):118–34.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Pradhan L, Mondal D, Chandra S, Ali M, Agrawal KC. Molecular analysis of cocaine-induced endothelial dysfunction: role of endothelin-1 and nitric oxide. Cardiovasc Toxicol. 2008;8(4):161–71.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Merkel PA, Koroshetz WJ, Irizarry MC, Cudkowicz ME. Cocaine-associated cerebral vasculitis. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 1995;25(3):172–83.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Puszkiel A, Malissin I, Cisternino S, Pallet N, Declèves X, Mégarbane B. Massive tramadol ingestion resulting in fatal brain injury - a pharmacokinetic study with discussion on the involved mechanisms of toxicity. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2022;60(9):1059–62.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Cattaneo A, Wipplinger C, Geske C, Semmler F, Wipplinger TM, Griessenauer CJ, et al. Investigating the relationship between high-dose norepinephrine administration and the incidence of delayed cerebral infarction in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: A single-center retrospective evaluation. PLoS ONE. 2023;18(3): e0283180.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Skurtveit S, Furu K, Selmer R, Handal M, Tverdal A. Nicotine dependence predicts repeated use of prescribed opioids. Prospective population-based cohort study. Ann Epidemiol. 2010;20(12):890–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Juvela S. Prevalence of risk factors in spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Arch Neurol. 1996;53(8):734–40.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Longstreth WT Jr, Nelson LM, Koepsell TD, van Belle G. Cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Stroke. 1992;23(9):1242–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Sacco RL, Wolf PA, Bharucha NE, Meeks SL, Kannel WB, Charette LJ, et al. Subarachnoid and intracerebral hemorrhage: natural history, prognosis, and precursive factors in the Framingham Study. Neurology. 1984;34(7):847–54.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Shinton R, Beevers G. Meta-analysis of relation between cigarette smoking and stroke. BMJ. 1989;298(6676):789–94.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  46. Khedr EM, Gabra RH, Noaman M, Abo Elfetoh N, Farghaly HSM. Cortical excitability in tramadol dependent patients: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016;169:110–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Morrow RL, Dormuth CR, Paterson M, Mamdani MM, Gomes T, Juurlink DN. Tramadol and the risk of seizure: nested case-control study of US patients with employer-sponsored health benefits. BMJ Open. 2019;9(3): e026705.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  48. Nichols L. Tramadol and seizures: an overview. AJON. 2011;21:1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Xia W, Liu G, Shao Z, Xu E, Yuan H, Liu J, et al. Toxicology of tramadol following chronic exposure based on metabolomics of the cerebrum in mice. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):11130.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  50. Dossi E, Huberfeld G. GABAergic circuits drive focal seizures. Neurobiol Dis. 2023;180: 106102.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Lagard C, Vodovar D, Chevillard L, Callebert J, Caillé F, Pottier G, et al. Investigation of the mechanisms of tramadol-induced seizures in overdose in the rat. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2022;15 (10)

  52. Zhang J, Lai PMR, Can A, Mukundan S, Castro VM, Dligach D, et al. Tobacco use and age are associated with different morphologic features of anterior communicating artery aneurysms. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):4791.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  53. Liberato ACP, Xu J, Montes D, Heit JJ, Barnaure I, Maza NM, et al. Multivariable analysis on factors associated with aneurysm rupture in patients with multiple intracranial aneurysms. Emerg Radiol. 2020;27(5):487–94.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

AE, EMK, AH, OR HA contributed to study concept and design, acquisition of data, draft and revision of the report, statistical analyses, and interpretation of data. RKS, AS, AA contributed to case recruitments, acquisition of data and statistical analyses. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eman M. Khedr.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

The study received ethical approval from the Aswan Universities faculty of medicine's institutional review boards with NB (Aswn\580/1/21) on January 2021. All participants gave their written informed consent to participate in the study. All participants’ personal details were be kept confidential, and all patients’ personal data were anonymized immediately after data collection. We confirmed that all methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Elbassiony, A., Khedr, E.M., Hegazy, A. et al. The frequency and impact of tramadol addiction on acute aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: cross-sectional multicenter study. Egypt J Neurol Psychiatry Neurosurg 59, 97 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41983-023-00703-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s41983-023-00703-w

Keywords